


Todds Know How to Keep Friends and Family on their Toes

by crazyjc



Series: Trouble Finds Mary Todd [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: ? - Freeform, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Tries, Also will use legit anything to get results, Alya sugar, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Teacher Caline Bustier, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Bamf marinette, Bustier fucked up, Bustier salt, Chloe is... nicer but still a lot of cannon personality S1, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Class Trip, Damocles Salt pinch, Eventual Happy Ending, Evil Lila Rossi, Family, Found Family Vibes, Good Friend Alya Césaire, Good Friend Nino Lahiffe, Gotham Police Corruption, Gotham Typical Corruption, Grief/Mourning, HEADS UP not nice to the police, Human Trafficking Mention, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jason Todd's Death, MariBat, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is a Mess, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Is Not Oblivious, Marinette Is Smart, Marinette gets some slight flashbacks, Marinette in Therapy, Marinette is truamatized, Marinette-centric, No Beta, Protective Alix Kubdel, Protective Chloé Bourgeois, Protective Lê Chiến Kim, Protective Nino Lahiffe, Protective miracuclass, Reunion happens in chapter 10, Rewrite, Sibling Jasonette, Swearing, TRUAMA COVERED A LOT GUYS, Tags Added As I Go, Tags to be added, Temporary Character Death, Trauma Recovery, and truamatized guys, and will get the results she wants, angst for a reason guys, as kidnapping and being trafficked by one, but - Freeform, but i dont, class sugar, cops are a trigger for Marinette, daily planet trip, familial jasonette, i would feel bad, idk whatelse needs tagging, iz bitchy and uphill, light bustier salt, marinette is from gotham, miracuclass, not lila rossi friendly, not sure if this one was earned, oh yeah, supportive class, supportive friends, the best ship is freindship, trip to metropolis, we die without editors here, will have that affect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28211685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyjc/pseuds/crazyjc
Summary: re-write of Reunions are... interesting if you're a Todd.Marinette was caught by GCPD at 7 and just wanted to find out what happened to Jason. GCPD lied.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Jason Todd, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Miracuclass
Series: Trouble Finds Mary Todd [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139204
Comments: 218
Kudos: 628





	1. Breaking and Mending

**Author's Note:**

> So I re-read Reunions and said hm... I can do better. Will work on mains when I have the time to re-read them and go over/find my old notes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette Dupain-Cheng's changed from before and after finding out about what really happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoy the rewrite! if you want spoilers, go read Reunions are... interesting if you're a Todd.

There was an unspoken agreement between those that knew Marinette was from Gotham. Until she was ~~caught~~ found by GCPD. The reason for this agreement was simple: to keep this ~~ridiculous~~ bubbly girl with a too-wide grin, the one that kept speaking French with a Spanish accent that fell into English babble when she got too anxious, as _their_ classmate. To stop her from ever looking like _that_ again.

Each kid would remember something else about how Marinette _looked_ back then. Before the other shoe dropped, and how she looked in the aftermath.

Chloe would complain about how the girl _clearly_ preferred a red sky with killer clowns and some guy in a bat suit struggling to keep crime down in a city that the cops didn’t even pretend to be anything but corrupt. How Marinette dared to talk to her about a child traffic light being an inspiration when what he clearly needed was a lesson on fashion and to stop standing out in the middle of gun fights as a walking traffic light in tights. And how Marinette puffed up and didn’t back down for one second as _Robin is best and you clearly don’t get as_ and would drone with no end in sight. How the girl would babble on about different fights she heard of, and the way she double checked alleyways before moving, always grabbing Chloe’s hand as “its not safe to go alone.” Her blank everything when the shoed dropped was burned into her mind.

Alix would remember how Marinette would always look up and squint at the gargoyles on buildings, furrow her brow too low and ask why they didn’t have any “personality” to them. Where were the mustaches, the painted nails and sketched-on scales? Where were the sunglasses and feather boas and everything that made them stand out? Where were those? Why weren’t there any shoes tied together and hung about their necks? Why didn’t they have names—where were the markers of the streets on their sentinels? After Marinette was told what really happened, she kept her eyes on the ground and refused to entertain naming gargoyles or personalizing them to match their streets.

Kim remembered her eyes lighting up when she spoke of dodging child services with her big brother at her side—always ready to save her just like she was always ready to save him. How she always knew she had someone to lean on, that even when things weren’t the best, she was never alone with this soft, fuzzy smile that made Kim long for his own partner in crime. He was almost glad he didn’t have one when Marinette vanished into something that wasn’t… wasn’t _her_ when she found out her brother.

What Nino remembered most before she found out wasn’t anything kind or soft like the others. It was her hushed horror at him asking why they ran—her body too tight, curled in while struggling to speak. Her words never left him. “Sometimes… Sometimes death is better than getting caught.” He wondered if she blamed herself for saying that, for thinking that, and then Jason showing up dead. Captured and put on display in a fake Robin costume.

More than a few teacher and counselors tried to pry information out of her on what made the GCPD and GCCPS so scary, something she and her brother had to avoid. The problem was, even in the aftermath, she wouldn’t budge. The few responses they got only served to remind them that Gotham City may as well be another universe for all its rules and differences in normalcy and safety.

Why else would a small child whisper “snitches get stitches” if they were lucky.

Why else would “less lucky” be “sleeping with the fishes” and the unlucky were… Well… in a unique circumstance the adults struggled to parse to this day, as surely she didn’t mean what they thought she meant, right? That the authorities would stop it, right?

“No one sees you, but parts of you on other people,” were said too straight, too rehearsed to be more than a myth told to scare children into behaving, right?

That was in her Before. When she was fine… Mostly. She missed Jason, and kept sending inquiries about teens that might look like him, about teens found in their old territories. She didn’t let up on looking—and like any gothamite from the slums, she didn’t bother with news about the rich and famous. Why should she?

Then she was called into the office one day in the middle of class, to be escorted by three adults. She was taken away in what should have been a very hush-hush manner. But Marinette was a gothamite through and through.

She didn’t trust strangers telling her they knew better. Especially ones telling her very little.

The girl threw elbows and kicks and only stilled when one of them said the magic words that rooted her into her new reality—“Its about your brother. They found him.”

She didn’t hesitate to follow then, apologizing and following after them with some strange look the remaining four from their class back then. Chloe would say Marinette was a bundle of nerves over the matter, hands twitching and movements too fast still. Alix firmly believed Marinette was excited, claiming a growing smile as Marinette left. Kim would agree more with Alix than the others, but he thought Marinette was hopeful for a reunion, that she was making the same expression she always did when she talked about her and Jason’s adventures. Nino… he wasn’t so optimistic. He swore up and down that Marinette was scared of the news—not anxious but terrified and over-apologizing and twitchy not with nerves but fear of what her brother being found meant for him.

They all agreed that the too-bubbly, too-wide grinning and English anxious babbling stopped that day. All could attest to a numb blanket over her for a month, followed by sobbing with no clear cause (gargoyles, street food, looking up too high, tag, hide-and-seek, a dark or yellow blanket among others) would all result in that numbness trying to return if the tears didn’t fall.

All because GCCPS and GCPD lied. 

All of Gotham knew where Jason Todd was. Where Jason _Wayne-_ Todd was. For three years.

That same Jason Todd was told that Mary Todd was dead. ~~Mary Todd was gone on paper, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was her new name, with her new parents in Paris away from Gotham’s every-day perils. A safe place with loving parents for a kid who had a rough start. The two were unrelated unless you ran facial recognition and had multiples of the same kids under different names while uncovering a human trafficking ring.~~

The same Jason Todd who went looking for her the _second_ he found out he was being played. ~~it took three years to remember that there was so much rot in Gotham everywhere, that vigilantes were a necessity, not an accessory, for the city’s survival.~~ The boy who ran away from the Wayne estate trying to find his sister.

Only to be publically and brutally murdered by Joker. In a Robin costume.

~~Because he wanted to find her.~~

What the kids knew was less… graphically detailed. 1) Marinette’s brother was killed. 2) the GCCPS and GCPD lied about having no news about her brother. 3) Her brother was killed.

The boy with a too-wide grin, that made funny voices when reading stories, the one that loved her so much—her protector and partner-in-crime—was dead.

The boy’s adoptive father was some “big deal” and rich. He let her brother die.

It made them sick.

Everyone in the class tried to help in their own ways.

The only four that remained from that class, the four that knew what Marinette was like before finding out and after and still saw her, tried.

Chloe stopped insulting the girl about her accent issue. Instead, she helped by pronouncing everything a bit slower and letting the girl copy. She didn’t befriend Marinette—the girl was born street trash and beneath her. But Chloe chose to be a kind and benevolent Queen.

She demanded that mention of Gotham became a social taboo—especially around Marinette. If violated, Chloe had no qualms siccing the authorities on one’s records with a fine tooth comb. She may not like Marinette personally, may think the girl is an absolute idiot and makes a mockery of the Frnech language every time she speaks. That the girl was incredibly strange and off—largely due to her upbringing and that she took too much pride in Gotham. But this? This, this broken doll state Marinette kept falling into? Chloe wouldn’t stand for it. She’d prevent it’s return; as any kind and benevolent Queen should for her subjects, even the most wayward like Marinette.

Alix took to distractions, like many others. History facts, art, anything she could think of. Alix knew more than anyone else that Marinette needed it—what she could fall into if those distractions stopped.

_A younger Alix snickered after making it to Marinette’s roof, grabbed her rope and lowered herself down to Marinette’s balcony. “No one ever locks their balcony outside of Gotham,” Marinette would complain to Alix._

_Marinette left her unlocked only if she wanted visitors._

_It was unlocked._

_Alix crept in with a grin, looking around for her friend. Only the lights were off. and there was a lump on the bed but Marinette was always up and alert by now._

_Alix stopped smiling. “Marinette?”_

_There wasn’t an answer._

_“Marinette, this isn’t funny,” Alix tried again as she went deeper into the too-dark room and scaled the ladder to the lump._

_Marinette’s eyes were open but nothing was registering._

_Alix kept shaking her and yelling until Marinette’s parents came in._

_That was the first of many break-ins. Later attempts would include force-feeding Marinette, keeping her up-to-date with classes while dragging her out of bed by force, and handing her knitting needles as “Come on, you keep saying stitching people up is a vital skill, how can uou do that if you get rusty?”_

_That was the first step in getting back Marinette._

Alix couldn’t forget those months. And the Dupain-Chengs never forgot that Alix is why Marinette came back, albeit… a different Marinette.

Kim took to keep Marinette busy by having her do things. Dragging her into his dares, his competitions and every sport he liked to play. She didn’t like going against him, but she did like cheering him on. It kept her from thinking about… ~~her dead brother and trusting Gotham of all places to be honest and how stupid she was and—~~ things. Banners were Marinette’s favorite to make, after redesigning his clothes since they “look stupid” and she could do better, just you wait and see! He likes having his cheerleader at meets and competitions, and so what if someone makes a comment or says something? Its Marinette.

And if someone tried to make fun of her for tripping over her words, for her accent coming back or starting to slip into “improper English,” well. His coach called the fights “character building” and let it go.

And if he somehow got a little sister who already lost one big brother, well. Kim didn’t plan on dying. Marinette needed someone—not a replacement brother but someone to watch out for her—and he could be that someone. He always wanted a little sister anyways. Two birds, one stone, right?

Nino’s idea was more like Alix’s; keep Marinette distracted. He took to music mixes, random stories, anything he could think of to make Marinette smile for a bit. He knew her smile, the one that lit up the room and made everything feel _right_. She wasn’t allowed to be _that_ kind of sad, the one that ate up what made you, you and left a shell in its place. It was a crime against the universe. His mission was to stop that crime before it could happen—to keep the bad memories away and replace them with something light and bubbly like her.

Whenever the teachers let him, he sat next to her and made funny faces when they weren’t looking but Marinette was. It was a game—how long could they go without getting caught. Other times he’d watch her design fashion in class and give his take on them. Sometimes this meant Kim had an odd new sports suit his teammates would make fun of his for, other times it meant Nino had to give up his trusty cap and test out Marinette’s latest beanie attempt (a grave sacrifice as those are _so_ not his style). But it helped her stay happy on her bad days and that?

That was something he could live with.

The unspoken rules were simple—no one mentions Gotham, Marinette’s bio family or their history, or ask about her having siblings or anything about her life before Paris, really. Anyone that _knew_ like the four—Chloe, Alix, Kim and Nino—would run interference. Stop the questions, block them, event prevent them when possible.

Because it was just…. Wrong to see Marinette become like _that._

Empty.

Void.

_Blank._

The fact that news traveled fast and people were kind, understanding and quick to accept these changes helped monumentally.

Kim and Nino were the most active in this matter—all their teachers kept the two in Marinette’s class, and from there distracting her when early signs of **a bad day** were spotted—before Marinette could devolve into that. _that not-Marinette._

Kim would issue the first challenge that popped into his head, louder than necessary, and turn to Marinette for a banner. Once she agreed, Nino would have a playlist at the ready for her to design to and give him feedback on as she worked. Often her love of music and brutal honestly during these times meant she didn’t hold back much and was far too quick to tell him that his (hastily put together) playlist was way too jumpy. By the time they were done and the banner was dry, Kim was facing down his opponent and Marinette was cheering him on while Nino edited his playlist and paid half attention to the challenge, and the signs were gone.

Alix would sometimes be paired with Marinette in art club, and if during an inspiration search she looked up like she used to and just. Froze; Alix knew why before she followed her eye. The gargoyles…

Alix liked street art well enough before deciding to become one. And Marinette was right about Gargoyles needing to be Something More. So why not make them into something else with perception painting? It’s a difficult skill to master, and she likes the work. And it helps that no one can really mess with it at that height unless they get permits and wouldn’t you know, Alix has multiple public art installation editing permits, so it was not vandalism. It was a conversation about the changing nature of what is seen as protective as isn’t that what gargoyles are—a symbol of protection that also functions as a water spout?

The tourists love it. Art critics enjoy using her works for fluff pieces. And Marinette isn’t _as_ afraid to look up—all wins in Alix’s book.

Chloe was rarely active in her measures nowadays. With Marinette mostly “normal,” Chloe was content to bully her for other things that her subject didn’t get—like her sudden lack of a spine being Ridiculous and completely unacceptable Dupain-Cheng. However, her measures were institutional and needed less upkeep by nature. Simply having all family history projects banned in favor of “pick a culture your family is from” type projects was a simple enough change that was deemed more inclusive by the school boards. It survived for six years unquestioned.

Until one an attitudinizer decided to try and break their Marinette again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ao3 hates me as it re did this 3 times before it let me save my tags.


	2. Setting the Playing Field.

Liar Rossi had most of the class safely under her spell… except for those that made up Marinette’s secret protection squad—Nino, Kim, Alix and Chloe.

This was… infuriating to say the least.

Those four doubted her, and their doubt could spread.

If she found the one thing to crack their precious little Marinette, then they’d fall into place, wouldn’t they? Their doubts in Lila would be gone, as they were clearly only doubting her because of Marinette.

No other reason at all.

* * *

Chloe didn’t need anyone to tell her Lila was full of it the second she walked in the door. From the three pony tails to the too-sweet personality and backhanded compliments, to always bringing everything back to herself? Chloe clocked her on sight as a nuisance and a liar.

She made sure Sabrina knew well enough too, her only real support in this mess of her queendom. While Chloe’s glad Marinette finally regained her backbone, it would do the girl well to remember who forced her to regrow it—Chloe Bourgeois.

* * *

Nino didn’t know much about Lila, but he knew a lot about Marinette. And that included her being better at spotting trouble than anyone else he knew. He doubted he’d ever forget the time Marinette just ran off mid conversation with him and Kim. They followed her for three streets to find Marinette pinning some guy twice her size to the ground with his arms locked painfully behind him. Her grip was unwavering and they weren’t sure how present she was.

All while a very pregnant woman was shaking. He wasn’t sure if his hands were shaking more than the woman’s when he called for Chloe and somehow Sabrina ended up on the phone and walked him through what to do with the police when they got there.

Kim was talking to Marinette at the time, but it wasn’t working… she ran before the police got there, yelling over her shoulder for the woman to contact her sober sponsor.

Nino knew Marinette well—as well as anyone that’s known her as long as he has can know her anyways. And he trusts her on judging people—just like he knew she wouldn’t do any worse to the drug dealer than pin him to the ground.

If Marinette—who gets excited about new students, is the one-woman-welcoming-committee to Dupont, and the girl who spots trouble kilometers away—doesn’t trust someone, he’s going to need a reason to trust them. Marinette only get this cold when it comes to dealers, swindlers and cons after all.

Kim had a different stance on the matter. As Marinette’s Big Brother, he knew that she may try to leave her Gotham days behind, but they left their mark… and she left hers on others. His shoulder might not hurt from when she threw him over her tiny shoulders with some look he couldn’t place as anything but wild (feral, fearful) like it did when they first met, but he knew better than to grab her anywhere from behind after that.

There were other marks too, ones he knew she tried hide. Like the double takes at the most basic things (people can walk with ear buds in and the world won’t end, he promises) that lessened throughout elementary and middle school. Now that they were in high school, she didn’t do those double takes really anymore.

He always remembered that you had to get her trust in strange ways—a spar offer and letting her stitch up his favorite hoodie when it ripped and he didn’t want his family to know—was all it took to get her to let up on the squinting eyes and uncertain looks. His heart fumbled when she smiled and said, “now you can’t turn your back as easy.”

He didn’t forget how quickly she withdrew that trust either. That it was something she didn’t give freely and once broken, was never the same.

The way Jean’s lie— _“I know Batman, so you should just go with what I say._ ”—shifted how Marinette interacted with him after that.

How her eyes hardened that time and how she didn’t walk, didn’t have her usual variety of smiles on hand but marched over to him with a grim face and glare that caused even the adults to back away. That she shook with something as her language shifted to that too perfect French you’d hear on a baby’s show as she spoke.

“Do not talk to me about Batman or Gotham ever again.”

Looking back, he had a feeling that comments like Jean’s could get you killed in Gotham. That it was probably Marinette trying to protect herself from those consequences, but… but she kept everyone else from talking to Jean too. Maybe her survival mode was built for keeping multiple people alive… (people like Jason) and maybe she was just trying to help.

And she was relentless once her mind was made up.

Lila was another Jean. The difference is she was keeping whatever caused this bout of rage, this absolute refusal to be anywhere near Lila, a secret. Marinette is good with secrets—its been six years and no one knows what really happened to the unlucky people in Gotham. Marinette is notoriously bad at explaining—language barriers, anxiety and crushing waves of doubt do not make a competent communicator.

But that didn’t make her a bad judge of people.

And he wanted to know what, exactly, about Lila set off this side of Marinette. The one he thought vanished when she left the classroom _that_ day. The fragments of the streets she’d hidden for the last six years, were resurfacing.

He had to figure out which parts of the early Marinette were coming back, and what about Lila was triggering them to return.

If he could get a word in edgewise with her loquacious-ness, that is.

If Kim or Nino hazarded a guess, they’d say Lila was probably setting off one of Marinette’s People Peeves. Probably the con one in Nino’s opinion. It wasn’t like Marinette wasn’t primed to see the worst in people, or like she hadn’t lived through a lot of bad. It had to be skewing her perception, right? Kim would say it was a repeat of the Jean incident, minus the active social isolation.

Neither was particularly… comfortable entertaining the possibility that Marinette might be right. That something was off with Lila in a dangerous way that could hurt them all. Especially when it would mean someone their whole class, including Mme. Bustier, had so readily accepted into the fold.

Alix… she never forgot how Marinette shook the day someone told her that Jason Todd was just some stupid street kid that was better off dead. Alix remembered pulling Marinette back and throwing the punch herself. The Marinette they said that to was one more detention away from expulsion, and Alix wasn’t going to lose her friend because someone needed to punch the jerk.

Alix saw Marinette shake that same way when Lila started talking about Ladybug.

Alix didn’t know what to make of it.

* * *

Chloe nearly lost it when Lila declared herself Ladybug’s best friend. Seriously? First of all, you didn’t need a brain cell to tell that the mangy cat had a firm hold of that position. Second of all, Chloe is Ladybug’s favorite civilian—its just a fact of life. Third—when she pointed this out to the class, Dupain-Cheng’s shoulders dropped and looked significantly less like someone was making her do her own gardening and work manure into the pots where the fertilizer wasn’t working.

Sabrina didn’t miss the shift either.

Now, Chloe doesn’t like Dupain-Cheng—too perky, shaky and quick to keep secrets for no reason. Then there was her lying ability—her lies with so many holes in them, they may as well be nets. Chloe did like one thing about Marinette, she never stood for cons, cheats, liars or drug dealers of any shade.

And yet here was Dupain-Cheng, shaking in silence.

The girl doesn’t have much of a backbone anyways. Not really—taking Chloe’s student government role a few months ago barely counted, not when she backed down and avoided confrontation ever since… Well.

But that never applied with Dupain-Cheng’s People Peeves—cons, cheats, liars and drug dealers.

Chloe brushed the new mystery away. If Dupain-Cheng thought she could play at Queen, let her. Chloe’s loyal subject knew the truth. Adrien… He needed to learn for himself to trust his Queen in all things like this. Chloe knows a liar when she sees one.

Dupain-Cheng not saying anything is the worrying part.

* * *

Marinette knew well and good Bustier’s stance on Lila’s lying… “If you humiliate her, it could cause an akuma Marinette. We don’t want to risk an akuma attack, right?”

Marinette kept her mouth shut because Bustier said so.

But (and she can’t believe she’s thinking this) thank Kwami for Chloe.

“Umm, I’m pretty sure that Ladybug’s best friend is her mangy cat, you know, the one she keeps saying is really her partner when she’s obviously just being too kind to say what she really means is sidekick.”

Someone else knew. (She wasn’t alone.)

Granted. It was Chloe.

But Chloe did mean Sabrina.

So three people. Three people know, and two are willing to point it out. But low credibility for those two meaning—

“You’re just jealous, get over yourself Chloe,” Alya rolled her eyes. “And besides, its obvious Lila meant best girl friend.”

Marinette loves Alya, but she would like her best friend to stop befriending the (new) local liar.

It kept on like that for a few more months—most of them physically Lila free; videochats were an unfortunate invention when Marinette had to hear Lila keep up the act and restrain herself.

Then after Chameleon, the number that knew grew to four.

The problem was Adrien was like Mme. Bustier. 

“Making bad guys suffer never turned them into good guys.”

Marinette knew it did make them hesitate once other options became real. She knew more legal criminals than Adrien. Marinette knew she’s committed more crime. (Jason may have lifted the tires, but Marinette got the wallets, watches, all the little things that the group of working girls who let her and Jason stay in their real home and not their work place would pawn off or use to keep food on the table. She remembers learning stitches while pouring alcohol on cuts from “bad johns” and she remembers dodging GCPD and GCCPS as they never gave a damn unless they were making a quick buck off the damn.)

Marinette could tell this kid with a silver spoon that most people you call bad guys are only doing it to survive. That people like this liar, they do it for fun. They don’t care who gets hurt, as long as they’re the center of attention. (She wonders if Joker would have made Lila one of his cronies.)

But that was Gotham, right?

Each city is different.

Maybe Paris is too, maybe in Paris teens that say they’re Best Friends with Ladybug aren’t going to get her friends killed, unless she tells her friends about the lying. Then Lila would get akumatized. Or her friends would get akumatized. And then she’d have to fight them.

She doesn’t like fighting her friends.

So the two who’s words might mean something were silent.

Oh, and Lila declared war. That was… insulting really. Marinette grew up in Gotham, she survived gang wars in the Narrows between different dealers, rogues, both, the occasional alien invasion, and Poison Ivy’s spring and summer attacks followed by Mr. Freeze’s idea of winter wonderland. Marinette knows wars, and this?

Is not a war, its barely a fight.

But then Kagami got akumatized.

Then Adrien seemed to get it all of the sudden. That liars hurt people. (One of the working girls said Jason and Marinette’s dad used to work for Riddler, before he got caught and sent to jail. Apparently, he was one of the guys who kept the others from getting trigger happy. He was a good guy, they’d assured her, but there aren’t many options in the Narrows. And who cares if a henchman doesn’t make it in a shoot-out anyways?)

Marinette wanted to speak out but Bustier had that look on her face that was too much like the lady who kept hitting Marinette for saying she was Mary. The one that made sure she said she was Marinette when Maman and Papa got custody of her.

Marinette knew that a smile was just full of sharp knives, wondering when they’d get to strike.

So she stayed quiet.

Adrien couldn’t say anything once Lila was his modeling partner. And Marinette could tell he hated every second of it-he was always pulling away or too tense and hid behind Marinette whenever he could.

It wasn’t good for her heart because this was the one boy who didn’t see the “feral gothamite” or think she was somehow broken or get mad at her for snapping at him. Hell, when she stole the memory chip from his usual camera man for Juleka, he applauded her for being able to do so. Her getting mad at the gum thing wasn’t a deal breaker—he still wanted to be around her and even explained and didn’t make fun of her for tripping over her words. He doesn’t laugh at _her_ for struggling, he laughs at the mix up and even asks her for help with English since American vs British spelling and their respective variants are a nuisance and the best linguistic protest form ever, fight her.


	3. The Presentation Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> its heritage week, so Marinette is dealing with what that means for her before trying to give her presentation. Then Lila earns the Evil Lila tag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this one EARNS the hurt and grieving tag, comfort comes when I work on the next chapter, probably in a few days if I'm lucky.
> 
> also, Jewish!convert Marinette who takes her religion seriously because I said so.

Alya didn’t get why Marinette wasn’t into Lila. They both moved to Paris, they were both amazing and selfless people, and they both were a lot sweeter than they believed. Heck, they both have self-image issues, and she’s pretty sure Lila and Marinette would both be amazing at helping each other kick their problems in the butt if Marinette would just. Stop clamming up around Lila.

That’s what Alya told Marinette, and Marinette can’t blame her. Alya… she doesn’t know about anything before Marinette was adopted, besides French not being her first language and she was adopted. She knows Marinette was in elementary school.

Marinette didn’t tell her these things though, it was obvious from the pictures at her home to how she tripped over languages and how her accent reverted when she got too nervous on top of the word jumble that fell out of her mouth. Its not her fault English doesn’t give a damn about linguistic integrity and has so many sentence structures that don’t mesh well in French. Or that she falls back on those when she’s really nervous and falls back into survival mode.

Alya has no idea that a vital skill for Marinette was spotting cons and liars and the worst of the worst to decide who she and Jason could trust to do what, and how far that trust should go. Alya has no idea Marinette may have had a few vigilante tendencies before becoming Ladybug. Or that Marinette is Ladybug.

She doesn’t blame her for this either.

She’s well aware that even if she and Chloe don’t like each other, that Chloe is helping Marinette in her own twisted way. Just like Kim and Nino and Alix. It’s almost nostalgic to when she and Jason ran with different street kid groups between staying with working girls they could trust. You don’t have to like each other to keep knives away from each others’ backs, you feel?

And Marinette is good at watching for knives.

Alya just doesn’t see that—hasn’t had to look for these types of knives before.

Marinette was just too busy looking at others’ backs, that she forgot to watch her own.

* * *

Alya did know one major thing about Marinette’s past. It was beyond taboo—Nino said that last time it was brought up, Marinette broke. That who Marinette is now is what’s important, and to not meniton anything about Gotham or the Justice League or anything affiliated with either really. Which. Was strange, but okay. Major trauma triggers maybe.

She _does_ think Marinette may be jealous of Lila for being so close the Miraculous Duo and for being a Certain Blonde’s modeling partner. And also Lila _is_ crushing on Adrien too, so there’s that.

But if Marinette can get along with Kagami—heck, befriend and cheer her on against Adrien even—Marinette should be able to get along with Lila, right? The two have so much in common and yes, Lila’s disabilities and packed schedule might make it difficult and all to hang out, but she’s not asking for friendship. Just. For Marinette to stop freezing and leaving the room.

Kim was the one to tell Alya to drop it, and that… that meant something about Lila might be hitting too close to home for Marinette. So Alya did drop it, and didn’t mention Lila around Marinette anymore, and left the room for calls.

It wasn’t until the Heritage Project that it hit Alya that Marinette was avoiding Lila for another reason. And that Marinette wasn’t who she should have been talking to about this. 

* * *

Marinette was… nervous. It was her least favorite type of project, and the one that always brought back that “wait for the other shoe to drop” feeling: Family Cultures Week... But this year she has Bustier who likes to call it Heritage Week…

And the only “heritage” Marinette and Jason might have had, or were close to, was the generic Hispanic field with no idea on which countries they may be from. She remembers hearing Spanish in most of the places they stayed in, but the dialect was always different. She remembers eating baleadas and tamale pies since those were “cheap and easy healthy” that the working girls didn’t mind Jason making since they took little supplies and Jason was known to be good at cooking, and there was always gallo pinto with one meal whenever he had time. People said he took care of her and Catherine when she was “in a bad place” (high, withdrawal symptoms, dealers yelling, no income but what Jason scrounged up) but he never talked about it with her, and she never really cared to ask about “Catherine” since she already had Jason.

She remembers filling frozen pastry dough from stores to try making empanadas at the drunk doctor’s when he passed out but she got the wrong crust and it was too puffy but Jason was so glad he found her and he kept cry-laughing at her attempt (she may have burned them a bit and they split open) and holding her tight. She remembers watching plantains cook over fires in the summer with some of the money she nicked off the tourists, because they were sweet and Jason told her to try to eat healthy whenever they could because growing bodies need it and stuff. She remembers Jason whispering that they’re lucky Calendar Man went by “white guy holidays” so they could have _Dia de Los Muertos_ in peace when they visited Catherine’s grave and Mary left dandelions and a tea candle while Jason would speak quietly to her, catch her up on what had happened since they last had time to visit and clean up a bit before it got dark and they had to get back before the rogues were in their element.

Marinette's presentation would be on Sabine’s side of her adopted family. Sometimes Marinette wonders how Jason would react to her, well… not being whatever brand of Christian she thinks they were before. She thinks he’d just roll his eyes at the fact she still believes in any religion after what they’ve been through. (But it makes the world make some sense, and she likes the rules. The rabbi told her that the G-d was Dead, but that didn’t mean the rules and morals went with Him. That she’s always been allowed and encouraged by Him to do what she had to to survive and doesn’t have to feel guilty for surviving. That she isn’t a bad person or reprehensible for doing what she could to survive and that the guilt from surviving was only hurting her. She was allowed to let it go.)

Her hands were shaking, shuffling her index cards—color coded, bullet points, cues on when to tell Max to change the slide. She (thinks) she can do this. Just another presentation… in front of people. Talking about her (second) family’s history in very, very distant and vague ways.

Alix gave her a quick smile as she finished answering the last question and walked back to her seat.

“Marinette,” Mme. Bustier called.

Marinette stood up, passed her USB drive to Max, and stood at the front of the room.

She always hated this part most. Getting things settled before she forced herself to talk. Then dealing with more silence as people tried not to ask the obvious questions.

Max gave her a thumbs up.

Showtime.

“Hi, I’m Marinette, and today I wanted to share something from Maman’s side. She’s Jewish-Chinese, more specifically she’s a Kaifeng Jew who,” Marinette nodded at Max. the screen behind her showed a map of China. “Is from the Henan providence in central China. There’s a lot of debate by scholars for how and when Maman’s ancestors showed up there and why but they all agree that Kaifeng Jews have been there a long time—some even saying the Crusades played a big role and—”

“Mme. Bustier!” Lila interrupted, waving her arm around.

Marinette twitched.

“Lila, Marinette is in the middle of a presentation,” Mme. Bustier gently reminded her.

“But Mme. Bustier, Marinette is doing her project all wrong!”

Marinette felt the room freeze.

“She did her project on a culture in her family,” Mme. Bustier explained. She _was_ aware of why Marinette never did hers on her heritage, right? Why there’s so much red tape on her file and so many things that even the school board banned, right?

“But it’s a heritage project, right? Its supposed to be doing it on her _real_ family, and well, her parents aren’t her _real_ parents.”

Marinettte winced.

The whole room whirled around to look at Lila. Either stunned, glaring, or disbelief.

Alya, Nino and Adrien’s glares were boarding on radioactive.

“Oops,” Lila covered that smile with her hands. “I mean, her bio parents, of course they’re her parents and all but shouldn’t her project be based on her bio parents?”

Marinette felt something twist in her at those words.

She doesn’t remember Catherine. She only knew Willis Todd from secondhand stories. ~~Jason is dead.~~ And she can’t. She can’t.

“Her Maman and Papa are her family, so shut up Lila,” Kim snapped.

Lila twitched, but pressed on. “If she can’t do it on her parents, then what about her home? She did have one of those, didn’t she?”

Marinette felt her hands start shaking. _Jason was home_. _He’s dead. She has no home._

“Well, that’s not too unreasonable,” Mme. Bustier admitted, glancing at Marinette. “And I heard its very therapeutic to talk about it.”

“Mme. Bustier,” Sabrina interrupted. “I think you need to re-read the project _rules_. Two weeks to prepare a presentation, _not change it on the spot_.”

“Why should Marinette change her entire presentation that she worked on for weeks at the last minute?” Rose asked from the back.

“We already started,” Max called out from the back

“She didn’t have time to practice something else, its not fair to change it,” Juleka said quietly. Ivan repeated it loudly.

“Just leave her alone,” Nathaniel told Lila with a glare of his own.

“Well then!” Bustier cut the class off. “I would like to hear about where Marinette grew up before coming to Paris, her paper will just count for more of her grade. She did ask to be excused from the ten minute presentation before,” Mme. Bustier pointed out. “How about it Marinette, can you tell us a little about your life before coming to Paris?”

Chloe swore and started looking out the window for any oncoming akumas, elbowing Sabrina to get a jar ready.

Marinette couldn’t breath with Mme. Bustier _smiling_ at her like that. (A promise of _pain_ if she disobeyed _in the slightest_. The next kid would get hit worse for every time she didn’t listen.)

Marinette held her head low and swallowed hard as she put her notecards down and she felt a familiar numbness fog over her mind. She hoped it stayed and she didn’t have to feel things. (Feel Mary and Pixie come back and all their feelings.)

Alix, Nino and Kim stood up. Kim’s chair fell back with a clatter.

“She already did her project!”

“She already started her presentation, just let her finish!”

“This really isn’t a good idea, just let her keep doing what she was be—”

“Its okay.” She forced the words out of her mouth. She wouldn’t let Lila get her akumatized over this. She knows how to… to handle this. Even if it did scare the counselors when she got like this. Even if Maman and Papa got really worried when she felt the fog sweep over her.

“Willis was in Stonegate before I was born.” Marinette didn’t care if they knew what that meant or not, didn’t care that her French was stating to get all ‘wrong’ because she didn’t care if they understood her or not. “I don’t remember Catherine.”

“Who?” Lila was grinning too much. _She’s enjoying this._

“Dad and Mah,” Marinette felt the shift in her accent, could hear it getting worse and knew somewhere that it was one of those ‘stop and leave and breathe’ signs but that wasn’t an option.

Nino swore under his breath. Kim and Alix weren’t paying attention anymore, scanning the window for akuma with Chloe.

“They said its better that I don’t remember them because then you don’t have something to regret losing.” Marinette felt something swell in her throat as she kept talking. “That’s why Jay was really, really big on reminding me we stick together. You can’t lose someone if you’re always together.”

“Who’s Jay?” Mme. Bustier asked, as that wasn’t a name in her file. There was a Jason but—

Marinette felt something crack loudly in her.

“My brother. He was six years older than me.”

Mme. Bustier froze. That was on the ‘do not ever allow her to speak of’ list. An immediate trigger to another episode.

She tried to say something but Marinette’s mind was a blur as words fell out. She wasn’t even sure which language they were anymore (French with a heavy Spanish accent and Old Gotham English).

“He found safe working girls for us to stay with, the ones that didn’t let anyone in the house unless they were safe. He cooked and cleaned and I learned how to stitch people up when they got hurt for the drunk doctor and how to look out for the bad people and get the littler kids to the library until someone safe went to get us or we had the all clear. He kept me away from Crime Alley and the people that dropped kids off looking all wrong.”

Sharp intakes went around the class, glances left and right as _is this why we don’t talk about Gotham around her?_

The four that knew either nodded, glared, or even crossed their arms and turned up their nose (all while still looking at the window. Waiting for the akuma, jar ready for capture).

Her eyes burned as she remembered what her Jay, her Blue Jay because Robin was Gotham’s hero but Jason was hers so he got to be a cool Blue Jay. He would always say something on the days things weren’t so good. On the days Marinette just wanted to run away from everything—even Jay—and never look back because no one took her seriously because she was too little and too small and too much of a liability _when she’s the one who sews people together when the doctor’s hands shook too much, when she’s stuck cutting into people who hurt people and knows its money to stay afloat but it makes something in her sick when someone snaps bones with garden shears and she has to keep going, keep cutting and stitching and not shake once and let the attendant get the busted appendix on Casey O.’s flowery fake china dish with the pretty blue designs that now has blood in it and smudged on the outside, and she still has to sew him back up then take off the trash bag apron, get hose down, then soap to wash off the feeling and then she gets to see her Blue Jay pacing before he sees her and holds her tight and whispers she needs to stop doing these jobs without telling him she’s going and she has to learn to read better first because she’s smart so please don’t scare him like that again but she didn’t have a choice—the guys with guns came and that means she has to go and play doctor’s hands again Jay, she has to._

“We have to watch out for each other, so its me and you and we can’t trust nobody else the same way because its Gotham and everyone struggling or rotten, so we gotta stay together, no matter what, no leaving without telling me.”

Her voice cracked. ~~The Marinette mask shattered, Mary Todd was back with whiplash~~.

_Jason always had bruises and skipped meals for her when it was tight. He never left her for real, even when it made more sense to, even when she was being difficult._

_“My lucky pixie stayed safe,” he’d grin while ruffling her hair. “That’s how I knew I’d be safe too, always know I’ll be safe when I can come back to you.”_

“He made sure to get me out of GCCPS homes before dark.” _Dark meant no rules. Dark meant no one looked. Dark meant danger in unknown homes._ It meant adults did things to kids and kids disappeared or died.

Kim tried to get up but Mme. Bustier made him sit back down, something dawning on her and she _had_ to know what happened.

“Then we got separated again, _for real_.”

She tried to breath as she remembered the stranger grabbing her from behind, her yelling it was a raid and the stranger shoving her into a car while she was kicking and screaming at Jason to just go. Jason screamed he’d find her again. He always did. Until he didn’t. That day haunted her nightmares still.

“They stole me, GCPD _stole_ me from my brother.”

She never knew if he went looking for her before or after he got caught and Brucie Wayne decided to impulse orphan shop. ~~She doesn’t know what happened in those three years and she never will because Jason is Dead. Was Brucie like the people that left kids off, or like the working girls that made you eat your greens? Was her brother safe in those three years or not?~~

“And—and snitches get stitches so I can’t say what happened—” _If you tell anyone what happened I’ll make sure the next kid I grab won’t make it._ “but then Maman and Papa got me, and it was okay…” she trialed off, lost in her memories. ‘Retraining’ from Mary into Marinette was… unpleasant. She could have ended up much, much worse. _Be grateful you stupid bitch_ was spat at her a lot.

“It wasn’t as bad as it could have been.” She. She hoped back then Jason didn’t get grabbed by the same GCCPS agent or a ring they were working with. They had the ‘no touch’ rule but… but that was only until the buyer picked you up. _Be glad you’re getting out of this shithole bitch. Be grateful, you’re getting a good life while we’re stuck here with all this bullshit!_

“But Jason wasn’t _here_.” And that was wrong.

“And then they lied.” ~~She should have known better than to trust anyone that wasn’t Blue Jay. Even Robin was fifty-fifty on a good day.~~

“And he, he died.”

The pressure behind her eyes was building and she can’t—

The four from her Before had grim face, staring at their posts harder.

“They _knew_ where Jason was and they _lied_ and then Joker killed him because that’s what he does—he kills people and no one ever tries to make him stop for good the ways that work because his gang is a horror cocktail on a good day and they killed _Jay_.”

She didn’t realize how bad her trembling was. “Brucie got a hold of him and he let Jason die, and every lied so he could keep my brother because who wants some little kid that’s only good at stitches and finding trouble!”

Pixie and Mary couldn’t stay quiet anymore. Everything was trying to catch up because the numbness wasn’t working. Something is snapping and.

“Jason died trying to find me, and then he was killed on TV!”

Pixie dragged the fog back while the class was silent, because she needs it, to keep the stinging in her eyes from pouring out a little longer. _Never let them see you cry, they stab faster then_ , she remembered the drunk doctor telling her a few times when she was scared and started shaking after an operation.

“Gotham PD and CPS killed my brother. That’s my report.”

Pixie (the professional, the thief, the drunk doctor’s hands) put her cards on the table with more force than necessary. As she’s so stupid. And she needs to go now, somewhere… somewhere she can fall apart in peace and quiet without being expected to respond.

Somewhere she could pull herself back together again and pretend it didn’t hurt, and maybe humpty dumpty really was put back together again with the cracks gone because no one has time for kintsugi and everyone knows scars may mean you survived, but they also made you damaged. And no one likes damaged goods.

“I have to go. Excuse me.” Pixie the professional thief was in control. She ran out the door, faster than everyone else and just out of reach. Mary and her grief were quick to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to let me know if I missed anything from grammar to trivia, and what cha think of what Marinette grew up with pre- Paris.


	4. Akuma and Aftermath

Alya wasn’t sure what to do with the words that just fell out of Marinette’s mouth. She did know her girl didn’t want to say any of that though. She did know that what she heard made her sick. She did know that there had to be something in this mess that she could do to stop at least one horrible thing from repeating.

Fact 1: Marinette is the sole survivor of her first family—whoever her dad was didn’t count since he’s clearly not in the picture. Her mom was dead. Her brother was killed by the fucking Joker. Marinette watched her family die. Marinette was running from GCPD and GCCPS her whole life. Marinette said she was stolen.

Fact 2: as for Lila? She was smiling when it started—not so much now. Whether that was Marinette’s past, the number of glares pointed at Lila or something else, Alya couldn’t tell.

And fact 3: Marinette’s trigger warnings were all there though—shaky hands, freezing up, avoiding eye contact, and that flat tone shift before her accent changed. Lila goaded Bustier into making Marinette relive it. When she visibly didn’t want to. Alya may not know a lot about Marinette triggers, but she does know that her friend is dealing with something that is definitely on her record and that Bustier ignored it.

Gut instinct 1: There was no way this was the first time Bustier did this to someone.

Resolve: Alya would make sure Marinette was the last one.

Problem: She was too caught up in forming her own plans after some foundations for her school life were shaken to notice someone running after Marinette.

She’d regret it when the akuma came.

* * *

 _Marinette was shattered._ That mask was gone again and Pixie was trying so, so hard to find the pieces. Mary might be hiding them so she can grieve again because it **Hurts**.

Gotham never gave a damn about her or Jason.

Just another pair of street kids.

Mary was good at sewing their clothes back together and helped one of the working girl’s friends out after a fight. He needed stitched on his head. He mentioned she did the work to his boss, who mentioned it to the drunk doctor—DD—the surgeon who still knows what to do but can’t because his hands shook too much after taking too much fear gas to the face during an attack on Gotham General. Thee hallucinations never went away, but the booze made it easy to ignore. It took too long to get sober, so he took to getting assistants.

Pixie (mask 1) was one of his favorites—clean cuts, good stitches, and quiet. May get sick but only after she was done and getting cleaned up. Pixie who knew better than to name names or ask questions that didn’t matter with the surgery.

Pixie only asked “can you bring my brother here?” and “where am I cutting?” or “where do I get clean now?”

Mary was the part of her that shook. The one that needed Jay to breathe after doing those things for a few hours. Pixie fixed stab and bullet wounds, and only had to hear the bone cutting one time. Mary was the one who shook and needed hugs and wanted to help her Jay bird however she could.

Mary was buried deep when she found out Jason died. On screen. Live.

There’s video clips from it everywhere if you know how to look.

( _Markov found and deleted them for her.)_

( _Max didn’t ask after Kim whispered something._ )

But right now she’s Pixie, running. Pixie looking for a place to hide and fall into Mary to make the selfish little kid part give up the pieces of the Marinette Mask they have lived in since Mary was beat out the first time.

Her feet carried her to the ‘run down’ part of Paris that reminded her of Jay, her dead brother. The one GCCPS kept insisting they hadn’t seen since he escaped three months before the raid. The one her parents (Willis and Catherine _never counted_. Jason was her only family.) kept trying to find from another country. The one who died as Playboy Billionaire’s, Brucie Wayne’s, **ward**.

Not son, _never_ son.

W-A-R-D.

Who was replaced by the millionaire kid next door, Tim Drake.

(She didn’t sense anyone following her when she finally made it into a rundown building, found one of the rooms that felt like it could be a decent place to stay mid-spring.)

(She never saw the black butterfly.)

(Or the person who took it instead.)

* * *

Alix ran after Marinette.

Chloe and Sabrina of all people were right behind her.

Kim and Nino were behind those two after that, but were struggling to keep up with all the twists and turns.

Alix was keeping up the best, she didn’t notice when the others fell behind.

She managed to run after Marinette into a run down storage building. Then she saw the butterfly heading to Marinette and reacted before thinking.

“Greetings Reaper, I am Hawkmoth. They forced your friend to relive the worst years of her life. Once you bring me the miraculous, we can undo all that pain. Until then, feel free to punish the guilty and put the innocent under your sway, if you accept.”

Alix nodded.

“Good.”

Reaper decided they would make minions to help them. They knew just where to go to get some.

* * *

Mary was willing to let the Marinette pieces go once she finished crying for a hour or so. Pixie was in the middle of putting them back together when they heard footsteps.

The Marinette Mask had to wait. They needed Pixie—the one who hides—not the one that becomes Ladybug.

“She should be in here,” a familiar voice said. “They said she was in this building.” 

Pixie couldn’t quite place them… definitely a girl, but not which girl she knew.

“Well,” another familiar voice, one that feels safe. Pixie can’t let them see her like this. “It looks like she went somewhere else. I’ll start looking in another area.”

“Hmph. Dupain-Cheng should be in here. I’ll stay.”

Pixie blinked slowly as… Chloe. Was looking for her.

Must be an akuma then.

Pixie waited until the other left to slowly edge out of her hiding place, get to the open window and creep out. Pixie wasn’t sure how she’d do as Ladybug, but it… it needed to be done, right?

Then Kim nabbed her as she dropped down. (the Marinette Mask tried to slide into place but Mary was there too, and Pixie can’t be between the two. it just… doesn’t work.)

Marinette almost broke again as… as she hates this. (why does everyone she gets attached to get hurt?)

Chloe scrambled out then. “I told you she’d be in there.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Chloe rolled her eyes at Kim. “Now, we have an execution to attend, and don’t worry, it isn’t yours.”

“Why do you have to say things like that?” Kim groaned as he began carrying Marinette somewhere.

Marinette didn’t have it in her to argue.

“What? Its true.”

Kim sighed.

Chloe decided to hover and start blotting at Marinette’s eyes with emergency tissues as “oh no, those two don’t get to see you like this.”

A part of Marinette was glad for it—it never did any good to let people see you down. On the other hand, Marinette was distantly waiting for Chloe to do something. After all, pity is just a tool to make other indebted to you, that part of Mary Marinette desperately wanted to rebury whispered. She knew she was right, and hated it.

By the time they were in ‘normal’ Paris, Marinette had dry eyes and was listening to Chloe passively insult people by their fashion sense, and for some reason kept giving… were those compliments?

“Even Dupain-Cheng knows that simple is better, honestly, they could do with a lesson from her.”

…Marinette really is wondering if this akuma scrambled Chloe’s brain in particular. As Wow.

Marinette did blink at the sounds of a fight and tried to get out of Kim’s princess carry. It didn’t work.

“Don’t worry, Reaper will get the Mangy Cat’s ring, and then we can get everyone who had a hand in hurting you too,” Chloe soothed.

Marinette was very Not Soothed by that information.

She didn’t want to be why more violence happened. (She wanted the systems that bred it to stop. She wanted people to pay by living it, to feel it and live with the horror and guilt every day of their life. Not die. That was too easy.)

Chloe and Kim escorted her to school. There, Reaper had Lila and Bustier’s mouths taped over and sitting on a guillotine each. Some of Reaper’s minions were fighting Chat Noir.

Marinette felt something twist in her as _Jay was given a public execution too_.

“Hey lovelies, it your girl Alya coming at you live with the latest on Reaper’s judgment on Two Face and Smile Through the Pain Sweetie! Our guest of honor—and my bestie—just made it!” Alya said to her phone, swiveling it around to show Marinette trying to get out of Kim’s grip.

“Though, I don’t think she’s gotten with the program just yet… Hey Reaper! Mari’s here!”

And that was the straw that broke the dam. Again.

Reaper was crowding her, wiping away tears that should not be falling, okay? “Don’t be sad, these are just the first that will pay for his death and your pain.”

Marinette hates how that feel comforting (wants to trust it, she really, really does). She hates that she keeps crying today. And that Chloe is fussing over her again.

Marinette noticed that Alix’s thumb ring was all wrong. The way an akumatized item is…

Marinette grabbed the hand against her face, held it there.

“This isn’t what I want.”

And then ripped the ring right off. “Chat, Catch!”

Chat broke the ring and akuma in his hand in one go.

Marinette would like to say she deserved the breakdown afterwards. Especially with how freaked out everyone was as Ladybug didn’t show up.

Chat was quick to cover. “She’s on a secret mission and can’t be reached, bye!”

Marinette wondered if ‘try not to break apart in public’ counted as a secret mission while people swarmed the area and somehow Kim and Chloe were still on her. (Now with Alya and Sabrina for some reason. And Nino and Adrien? Actually, screw that. her entire class decided to be a human barrier to get her home to have her breakdown in peace and bakery-run-down-stairs quiet).

* * *

Marinette did a few things that Monday: first, give Alya all the notes on what Bustier asked of her (rules to work within, she did best with lists and knowing the rules. Knowing what rules you were playing by kept you alive in Gotham). Next, she left the usual lesson plan for the week (she always edited for a better flow) on Bustier’s desk. And hoped it was enough. Third, she started grief counseling.

Did she mention it was a class mandate from her classmates? Or how they all became weirdly clingy? Or how someone would always be ready to distract or listen or offer how to help her move forward and she just. Hated it. Being treated like something broken. She wasn't whole but she wasn't missing parts, just... empty with loss.

And being treated like a bomb ready to explode wasn’t helpful. She knows they’re just trying to prevent an akuma, right? That’s the logical thing to do.

Her therapist disagrees.

Says they’re trying to help and she just… that doesn’t make sense. Maybe it was because Marinette was shattered and its hard to be Ladybug with Pixie underneath the mask more than Perky Marinette but… it just.

Who helps just to help? People are nice, yeah, but they always want something in return. Its’ tit for tat. Maybe the Mary part of her was being too cynical and critical but…

But people going out of their way to get Bustier suspended?

And then get her license to teach revoked?

Her class ignoring Lila more than not, and refusing to really talk to her outside of assignments. No one believed her anymore, or if they did, they didn’t trust her. It was... it was good. They were learning. The world isn't so gentle, but that didn't mean they had to stop being kind.

Jason would want her to be kind.

So she tried.

Even when it hurt.

Paris did need Ladybug as their symbol of what people can be. And Marinette didn’t always have to be that symbol… she could be passive aggressive.

Their new teacher is still trying to get Marinette to stop editing her lesson plans. Which is still weird and they’re plans suck when she doesn’t. They need to stop acting like it wasn’t one of her class duties.

Chloe and Sabrina pulling Marinette aside to show her what a normal class rep’s duties look like and slowly make it hit Marinette that yes, Bustier was having Marinette do a lot more than she should have. ~~Did not mean she would stop as she’s a lot better than the teacher at this, okay?~~

Adrien managing to get Lila fired was an interesting week. Apparently Gabriel didn’t take well to intentional grief-related trauma triggering... made sense with his wife. And apparently Marinette was now a “good” person to leave his son with, despite evidence to the contrary. Like when they were an national incident for going to the movies. And when Gabriel is under the impression Marinette has stolen from him… and knows she has, in fact, stolen film from a photographer before, Marinette has questions about his entire ability to judge people. Really.

Who let this man be a parent?

Better yet, why does he get to run a company?

Marinette is further convinced that all of Paris is full of people crazier than Crime Alley. They keep giving her all these second chances, even when she tried to push them away. (Alya is guilty of refusing to leave the most. Its to the point Maman and Papa are asking why Alya isn’t over when she’s not around.) And none of them listen to Very Clear “Fuck Off, I Am Dangerous” vibes Marinette radiates when glaring at them for the fifth time they followed her to the fabric store and randomly bought her supplies. Adrien.

Or when Alix just drags her off to the museum to see a new exhibit when Marinette was planning on reworking those lesson plans as their new teacher is Not Getting It. Max and Markov are allowed to invade with videogames for her to rage-test. Nathaniel and Marc camping out in her family bakery was… a moment.

Juleka and Rose and Ivan kidnapping her for Kitty Section practices was allowed because she likes to redesign and she is their manager. Luka playing songs that are weidly calming was Not the Plan, and she isn’t sure how to feel about it, okay?

Mylene is spared her wrath because Marinette really does like volunteering with Mylene at kitchens and if Mylene asked about different issues Marinette noticed over the years and Marinette may have gone on a few four hour rants, well. Can you blame her?

Kim is also now her shadow. With Nino. They take shifts. Literally. She’s not sure if she’s more mad or impressed by this. They only give up watch if Alya appears for sleepovers once she’s home.

Oh and apparently the whole class going ham on persecuting Bustier and Damocles paid off? A whole class suing the pair for gross incompetence, negligence, and abuse to current and former students landed them an invitation. To Metropolis’ Daily Planet. All expenses paid. To give them a better look at investigative journalism.

Marinette remains suspicious of whoever is footing the bill (the teacher isn’t letting her look because they are Rude). Chloe and Sabrina and Alya managed to coordinate the trip’s budget and where they’re staying. Marinette forced a flexible schedule that pandered to everyone’s interests.

Alya was excited. So excited and it made Marinette smile.

Their new teacher kept insisting someone buddy up with Lila but no one volunteered. Lila was had to buddy-up with one of the chaperones. It was a moment.

The only bigger moment was Chloe dropping her infamous “Dupain-Cheng” address at the airport.

“Mary, if you’re not on the plane in five minutes!”

Marinette did not fall on her face, but she almost did.

She didn’t know how much she missed hearing her _real_ name. That it was familiar and foreign at once. (If Marinette sat in front of Chloe just so she could hear her real name more. Well. No one was calling her out on it to her face.)

At some point during the ride, Alya and the other girls put together Marinette really likes being called Mary. But it didn’t fit for them when they tried to say it in corners they thought she couldn’t hear.

Mary-gold was what the girls took to calling her before the plane landed. And Marinette? She loved how the word felt in her mouth, the shape warm and inviting. She wants to be like that, isn’t sure how, but she wants to. She doesn’t think she is (too much Gotham in her) but she… she wants to try. The girls were helping, modeling the behaviors she wanted to do and it made her feel better and vulnerable at once. They were gentle and not in the pity way now. It felt... nice? Like Jason and that hurt in the good way, Marinette supposed.

Alya held her she teared up at the airport, letting her cry for a bit because G-d, it hurt. It hurt so much sometimes for no reason. It didn’t make sense.

Nino was the one to make that horrible joke. “So. Does this mean Bloody Mary is off the table?”

Marinette was laughing and it felt awful and good at once.

“Only if I kick someone’s ass.”

“Or look it,” Alya grinned. “You have one hell of a Murder Walk when you want.”

Marinette carefully decided not to point out that she is not making her up like everyone else. She was usually bordering that mindset when she uses hers and is benevolently choosing not to murder anyone.

“Eh, she’s way too cuddly for bloody Mary to stick. Mare-bear is the superior nickname,” Kim sagely nodded at his own comment.

“You were snuggling pretty hard,” Alya teased. As yes, Marinette did fall asleep on the flight at some point. And Yes, Alya was not able to move for a good chunk as sleeping Marinette rule… and there are pictures.

Kim is truly the monster in this friend group.

“I can be scary.”

“Marinette,” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re kind of like a pink marshmallow.”

Marinette stood corrected: Adrien is the true idiot and monster.

She decided she could and would kick Adrien’s ass in the next akuma attack. Pre-Ladybugging. Just a swift kick to the knee, shuck him somewhere safe and run. He’ll be healed with the cure, and get some ‘reflect on your idiocy’ time, plus no long term consequences.

Kim took to rambling about sports, stats, and checking on her and Max’s Ultra Mecha Strike III combos and moves for the upcoming tournament—four weeks out, three weeks out when they returned. And Kim may have pointed out the obvious while the others were distracted and Max was in another conversation.

“You know, certain dumb blonds really need to remember to stay in their lane.”

Marinette snorted at that. “That crush was dusted ages ago.”

Kim hummed at that. “Well good. Otherwise I’d be calling in Kim Rights and have to challenge him to hand-to-hand combat.”

That got a laugh out of her and a smug grin out of Kim. As they both knew if it was hand-to-hand, Kim would win by sheer Marinette Exposure factor. Adrien would only stand a chance in fencing.

It was a bittersweet for Marinette. She missed this from Jason. Casual protectiveness without needing to say why or from what. And Kim and her both knew what he wasn’t saying and what wasn’t okay to say out loud because it might hit too may buttons. But it didn’t make it less true.

And Jason was dead though and couldn’t. Couldn’t do these things and be the big brother and protector and joke machine.

So Kim did what he couldn’t.

“And you know I’d win.”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t kick his ass first?”

“You want to not give your parents another heart attack, miss ‘borrows a motorcycle and bashes in an akuma’s head and pretends she didn’t’”

Marinette paled a bit and laughed. “Yeah right, and Adrien was the guy in the banana suit!”

Marinette chose to ignore the panicked look Adrien shot her as Nope. Not unpacking that implication until after she half-processes and internalizes her therapy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I lost power for two days so this is later than I was hoping. Enjoy the semi-resolution, and reminder, Alya is not being salted on here.


	5. Metropolis, Meet Marinette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I evil for this set up? Maybe.  
> Marinette needed an angst break though, and we all needed a few new POVs. as a treat.  
> also, whoot, another update.

Marinette didn’t like having nothing to do. It just… wasn’t a thing for her. So when she and Alya finished unpacking, they decided to explore the floor of the hotel. It was a nice one, and yes, Marinette would like them to tell her who the fuck is footing the bill as it’s a nice place—especially by Metropolis standards. Who lets teens stay here for a trip unless its someone with a lot of pull.

She’s really hoping this isn’t some complex Luthor plot to get Markov. As she can and will take the guy out, no questions, but would rather not deal with the fallout of assaulting a billionaire and his weird fans going after her and everyone she knows.

So finding a kitchen was a blessing and curse for her entire class.

Alya was making a list and writing how much Marinette would need as she rattled things off. No, she was not specifying what everything would be used for exactly, but she does know her baking calculations and proportions and how much she can get of what she needs from different containers. The lack of a scale was annoying, but she knew how to convert to cups and spoons.

Once Alya was done with their list, it was spread out across their classmates. Who ran out in pairs to grab everything from different markets while Marinette wrote out what went where in which quantities, wait time, and more.

Kim and Max were the first back, so she started up on the macrons’ (various) meringue bases while Alya sifted powered sugar and whatever was acting as her flour for any given macaron. By the time Adrien and Nino got there, Kim was deep into using the blender to make the other flours, while Max was checking measurements. Nino took over filling pastry bags with batter while Sabrina waited to pipe. Chloe was supervising between checking baking supplies and maneuvering things to the least “dangerous” area as more groups came in.

Adrien took over cleaning dishes… with Rose helping him out before moving him to drying and hand-off. As Marinette is a little scary with late hand-offs when she’s in macronage mode. Juleka was in charge of the oven and banging finished macron sheets.

Next came in Mylene and Alix. Myelene took over making the fillings with Alix checking her measurements and getting things ready. Nathaniel was placed on “macrons assembly” duty while Ivan guarded the fridge from any stray hands.

When Marinette was done making the macron batter, she checked over the finished macrons. Then decided to melt chocolate and dip certain batches, some even getting a coating of chopped peanuts (supplied by Kim). Then she moved on to working on the bread. More specifically, a bunch of soda bread loaves… made with various Gatorades, and showing those that wanted to learn (Adrien, Rose, and Max) how to.

Sabrina and Chloe left, then returned with ingredients that Alya forgot to send people to grab because frankly, Marinette did have Quite The List of ingredients. Like spices and meat.

By the time the breads were in the oven, and all the macrons given their final Marinette touches (and sorted), Marinette was feeling Much Better. Then it was time to test her ability to hand her childhood demons—empanadas.

Alya was in charge of cooking the filling while Kim and Nino were her sous-chefs on ingredient prep and clean up. Marinette focused on making the dough and getting the deep fryer ready. Adrien started it for her, and got the egg-wash ready.

Then their teacher barged in. Ivan was still glaring at anyone trying to get into the fridge.

Their teacher, Mme. Perrault, just stared at Marinette and her friends.

“Is this where you all were? This whole time!”

Marinette could feel something trying to gnaw at her (guilt) but…

“Yeah, for the most part,” Marinette answered while measuring out the filling onto her first disk. She gestured for the others to try too.

Chloe huffed from her perch across from Adrien, deigning the activity worthy of her time. the others followed suit.

“Where did you get the, the things to make this?” Mme. Perrault asked, dumbfounded.

Marinette turned to the others for that.

“We went out, obviously,” Chloe rolled her eyes, as really, it shouldn’t be this hard.

“This is an unscheduled day,” Max pointed out.

“We decided to cook with our Marigold,” Nino said while slinging an arm around Marinette. Who was glaring at the dough for refusing to pinch right.

Kim snickered next to her, showing her how to pinch it just so. “Like dumplings Marebear.”

“Shut up.” Marinette huffed, glaring at her next attempt. Intent to do better.

“All of you just. Decided to do this?” Mme. Perrault clarified, staring at them.

Most of the class shrugged and said something along the lines of “not like we had anything better to do.”

Marinette grinned triumphantly when the dough held.

Kim patted her on the back for her efforts, blocking the rest of the class’s more numerous successes from view. Just in case.

“I’ll check the oil, make sure its at the right temperature,” Adrien offered. As he was not able to make an empanada for the life of him. “Okay, its ready for the first few!”

Mme. Perrault took a deep breath before walking out of the room to see if any of the chaperones were willing to watch over the bulk of the class while she just. Took a nap. As she had been looking for the kids for the last half hour when none of them checked in or were in their rooms, and she decided someone else can supervise. She needs to sleep. They’ve only been in Metropolis for seven hours and she already needed to sleep.

Marinette mouthed “thanks Queenie” at Chloe when everyone else was too busy to see the two by the hot oil.

Chloe rolled her eyes and mouthed with a smile, “shut up Mary.” 

* * *

The next day, Marinette was up late. Apparently she slept through her alarms… again. In her defense, she did have to deal with catching an akuma before it got someone. And may have threatened Hawkmoth for interrupting her vacation…

No one else was around when she did that. So.

Ladybug’s squeaky clean reputation is intact to the public.

To Hawkmoth, she is now an eldritch abomination who will make his life hellish at the first chance if he even Thinks about sending another akuma out for the next week and a half.

In her defense, her class did make it difficult to sneak off for patrols with the constant hovering.

Ivan handed her the macaron boxes, while glaring at Certain People for trying to take them early.

“Thanks Ivan!”

He nodded before running off to find Mylene and the rest of Kitty section.

Marinette hummed as she sorted through them—ten snickers for Nino, six berry bombs put aside for Mylene and Nathaniel each, eight Reese’s Wishes It Was This for Juleka and Ivan, six Coffee! each for her, Alya and Max, six Cherry with whipped ganache for Mylene, Rose and Alix each (for now), a “smore’s for you heathens” went into each box, some balsamic blackberry for Adrien, Sabrina and Queen Chloe while Kim got a box filled with blueberry mascarpone and cake batter macarons, while Alix took another six cake batter macarons. She put a random variety together for herself after taking some coffee! macrons and a few “S’mores you heathens.”

Mme. Perrault didn’t even ask they share with Lila or the chaperones—apparently Chloe making a big stink about having to share her cake with everyone in class worked.

It was the little petty victories that made things grand.

She sat with Alya, Nino, Adrien, Kim and Max for breakfast, glad to see eggs and bacon as an option on a menu. The waitress did give her a look for the accent. Then her classmates decided to do (pretty bad) different American and British accents.

Did Marinette forget to say it’s the petty victories?

Because it is.

And Old Gotham being the most coherent accent in the group? Is a very, very petty victory.

Marinette is a little proud of her overbearing hovering friends.

Just a little.

* * *

There was an all out petty war going on at the Wayne Manor.

Why?

Bruce wanted to make an appearance on a certain tour in Metropolis. These kids managed to take out a teacher and principle allowing for rampant neglect and then took advantage of various abused children. One of whom happens to bear a striking resemblance to Jason, and whose case was the catalyst for said group of kids getting their teacher’s license revoked.

Tim and Dick were conspiring against him specifically. As Tim somehow scheduled a wide variety of meetings that made getting out of Gotham very, very difficult for the week. Bruce would manage it, but it didn’t make it any easier.

Then Tim and Dick were fighting over who should go greet the class, as someone needed to.

Tim wanted to go as he _is_ Wayne Enterprises CEO, so it makes sense. Dick was working on getting Tammy on his side to overload Tim with meetings to stop him from going.

As Dick was fairly certain Bruce and Tim were probably walking trauma bombs for the girl. And Dick is also the king of emotional health in this family, so _he_ should go handle the class speech on great achievements and being good people and stuff.

But Tim is an asshole who knows how to get Jason and Steph in on screwing with his car. So its not really working right now.

Oh, and none of them told Jason that it’s the kid they’re fifty-fifty on being his sister since somehow there’s more red tape on that girl’s file than they were expecting, and keeping hacking that extensive from the rest of the batfamily is like trying to stop a gossip chain. Rarely works and usually isn’t worth the effort.

If Clark and Lois got to meet the girl and make the call instead of them, and Jason got ahold of the answer first… it wouldn’t be pretty.

In their (really bad) defense, if it is Mary, they want to see if letting her know Jason is alive again is a good thing for her, or would be opening a can of worms. For Jason, they know it’s a can of worms, but what isn’t with him? And confirming that his sister does want to see him would be really helpful for his own post-Pitt recovery and general stability.

Dick isn’t an idiot. He knows Jason adored his sister and was pretty broken by losing her. Dick didn’t get it until Jason died. And by then… it was a little too late.

But if she wouldn’t be okay with seeing Jason again? Its better to not let him know.

And all of this hinges on her being Jason’s little sister, Mary.

It’s a hail mary really.

And one Damian and Stephanie and Babs and Cass aren’t in on. As Lord knows one of them would slip.

Dick and Tim and Bruce are professionals who can keep secrets.

This does not mean they can stop sabotaging one another. 

* * *

Back in Metropolis, Lois and Clark were trying to look into Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s file—what they’d been given of it anyways. Adopted at seven by the Dupain-Cheng family through a dissolved international adoption agency… that was found guilty a host of blacked out crimes in retrospect. The name of the dissolved agency is blacked out.

There was a list of things that are not to be mentioned around the girl: mainly Gotham and Old Gotham families. It was noted on there that she lost a sibling, and to not ask her about having any. There underlined multiple times was “Do not ask about her life before Paris” which would make determining if she was the Missing Mary Todd or not more difficult, but not impossible.

After all, this is Lois Lane and Superman on the case.

And if the girl’s file mentioned an uncanny ability to deal with ‘high stress environments’ and a penchant for casually point out escape routes and potential dangers… well. Those were admittedly very Gothamite tendencies.

And the fact that while the girl is not listed as “witness protection” but has virtually all the usual hallmarks of… well. She’s been in the news multiple times in Paris, and the class already signed a waiver for photos and video appearances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to add to the insanity below, as ideas are very much welcome for the upcoming part.
> 
> also rough of what each macaron is:  
> Snickers (walnut-based macron with peanut butter buttercream and caramel cream filling, rolled in chopped nuts)  
> “berry bomb” (black, raspberry and blueberry co-piped with macaron cookie a light strawberry mousse for filling)   
> “reese’s wishes” (peanut butter buttercream, semisweet chocolate macrons made with “peanut flour” with a chocolate dip and light crushed peanuts on outside)   
> coffee! (so much caffeine in these, Nutella buttercream, generous amount of coffee grounds in cookie)   
> cherry with whipped dark chocolate ganache,   
> “Smore’s for you heathens” (marshmallow crème and chocolate buttercream fillings, and toasted graham cracker crushed and sifted into a flour in the cookie),   
> balsamic blackberry (blueberry cookie with balsamic in the meringue, vanilla and white chocolate buttercream frosting with a dot of balsamic in between.)  
> blueberry with mascarpone cheese (they had left over blueberries and forgot what the mascarpone was for. so they made this one last minute )   
> cakebatter with extra rich cookie butter american buttercream.


	6. In Which Marinette Knows B, Jason Knows A, and Mme. Perrault Tries, okay?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so heads up, this was written before recent events... by like a lot. decided this was the best I was going to get for this portion. Enjoy.

One would think talking to top reporters in the world is something that you’d be excited about. And if you were Alya, you are. If you are Marinette, you indulge your best friend, try to reel her in when her fan girl is showing too much and might border on fanatical, and try to keep an eye on your classmates.

And hope like hell Lois Lane and Mr. Lane (as yes, if he’s going to look like a Superman clone and be a total goob, he’s her simp husband and talking her name in Marinette’s mind).

Marinette may or may not be debating if anyone else put together that Lois doesn’t have a type on further reflection—her boyfriend just has two identities and she’s dated them in both, then married the human ID.

Oh well, not her city, not her hero, not her problem.

Its his secret identity, and she's no snitch Mr. Lane. 

“And this is your first piece?” Lois asked Alya, while obviously keeping some of her focus on Marinette. Who really, is just here to keep her best friend from making an idiot out of herself in front of her career hero. Just repaying the favor given the number of times she helped Marinette avoid being the beyond awkward into the twelfth dimension pre-Reaper.

“Oh, no, actually its just my latest,” Alya began, turning to Marinette for help as she started to blank.

“She runs the Ladyblog in Paris, here’s the base URL,” Marinette said while carefully writing it in her neatest handwriting. DD’s may have been shit, but Jason’s wasn’t. He liked how calligraphy looked, and Marinette may be partial to script, but sometimes you needed simple print with careful lettering.

Alya sagged at her side. “It started off as a just a Paris Crisis blog, got mixed into a personal one and I’ve been separating the two under different tabs.”

“Here,” Marinette handed it to Mr. Lane, who she figured might finally step in to help with Paris after all the bull the city’s been put through. Seriously, her and Chat have been improvising left and right, and its getting hard to keep the Ladybug act up. The JL can afford to help.

Mr. Lane carefully took it from her hand. “Thank you.”

Marinette pretended not to feel his gaze sharpen while doing a once-over of what she’s going to guess was one of the supervisions. He just covered a pupil dilation… maybe x-ray vision. Which is rude—she’d like to minimize radiation exposure—he should ask first.

But that would blow his cover…

She’d let it slide.

“City crisis?” Lois was focused on Alya, and Mr. Lane followed suit. Perfect—she really didn’t want to keep having Superman watching her every move. It sets off some instincts she’s trying to Not Feed during the trip.

Mme. Perrault barreled in then—probably listening in to the whole interview this far.

“Mme. Cesaire, Mme. Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette could Feel the oncoming lecture.

“I would appreciate it if you did not speak of such things during our trip. My apologies Mrs. Lane, Mr. Clark, these two never know when they’re taking things too far. I will speak to Mme. Cesaire for a just a moment.”

Marinette almost groaned. As Bustier used to at least let them get a word in edgewise before dragging them off for a guilt trip. Was it too late to tune out the newest questionably competent teacher?

“Marinette, you’re free to stay here for a moment, so long as we don’t bring up anything related to—”

Marinette rolled her eyes in overt defiance. “I know my file and mind better than you.”

Mme. Perrault took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. “We will discuss your attitude later.”

Marinette once again did not hide her eye roll in the slightest.

“Mme. Cesaire.”

Alya looked at Marinette, who half shrugged at her. She _is_ the teacher. Not much to do about that… even if Marinette isn’t entirely convinced that something isn’t going to happen sometime soon, arguing with the woman would only cost them time that Marinette would rather not waste.

One defeated sigh later, and Alya followed her out.

“Uh, Marinette, right?” Mr. Lane tried, once again trying to make eye contact. Yeah, no. She’s not going to deal with Overly Friendly Metropolis Superhero In Disguise. Blue Boyscout can be Blue Boyscout somewhere else.

The silence stretched on too long for comfort. Damn her anxiety.

“Sorry about that. She’s…” Marinette wasn’t sure what the right word was—one that didn’t get her in trouble any ways. “… over protective.” Marinette decided that was close enough.

“Well, given what your last teacher put you through, it might be a good thing,” Mr. Lane smiled.

Marinette decided not to respond to that, as honestly? She’s not into everyone acting like she’s made of glass, and her therapist told her she doesn’t have to engage with people who tic her ‘slowly feeding my fury’ meter.

Lois was the one to get Marinette’s attention. “Hey, you wouldn’t know why your friend’s blog is restricted access, would you?”

Marinette blinked slowly as… “It’s a public blog, and one of the main sources on—” Marinette cut herself off when Mr. Lane’s eyes began tracking movement behind solid, opaque office walls.

Lois did catch where Marinette was looking.

Did she mention its Just Her Luck for a new crisis to pop up when talking about another one? Shit—her class are all sitting ducks and she has the hometown hero in here with her. She needs to move. (He won’t risk his big secret with her in the room. Her out? Goon squad will be down in an hour with his record, and her class can deal with the reports while Marinette hides in the hotel room since she already has her ‘get out of talking to the bastards in blue’ jail free card: trauma triggering. Mme. Perrault is good at one thing—ensuring all of those are avoided by three miles and then some.

“Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Wait!”

Marinette was a bit quicker than Lois (Ladybug Reflexes) and Mr. Lane was still in Mr. Lane mode—so no superspeed to worry about as a factor.

The goon that grabbed them because Marinette needed to get the fuck out of there to check on her idiots? Not part of her plan.

* * *

Jason had to get Babs’ help to get through the encryption on the file that Bruce, Dick and Tim were trying to hide from him. Her program did its thing, and he was stuck looking at a punch to the gut: Mary Todd’s file.

He forced himself to read over details he memorized ages ago. Identified by her signature beanie after getting caught in one of Joker’s schemes. A bomb took her out too. (It was weirdly comforting to know she died like him. Him coming back to life without her was the kick in the teeth to remind him that no, he doesn’t get to be happy. Fate likes fucking him over.)

Beside it though, was someone that looked familiar. Older, hair straightened, dressed completely differently. A possibility that the Pitt fried out of his brain. The Mary Todd lookalike with a file kept offline—standard procedure for more sensitive cases. Girl internationally adopted from NYC at 8 by two bakers in Paris with the adoption company redacted. (possible child trafficking indicator)

A kid who’s in Metropolis right now. On a fieldtrip. Paid for by Bruce.

A kid who was part of a lawsuit against her teacher and principle for “gross incompetence, negligence, and abusive behavior toward students from less fortunate upbringings.” He read the articles listed, looked over the pictures and it.

Mary could be—she was—no. Why should he trust anyone in Gotham to tell him about _his own damn family_. Especially goddamn GCPD.

He called up Kori to give him a lift. He has his own investigation to conduct. (to see if his Mary did live. If she’s alive. If she’s okay because fuck, can’t the universe do the Todd siblings a solid for once!?)

He froze when he made it to where he knew she’d end up. Outside of the Daily Planet, chatting with a girl with glasses. He was too far away to know for sure but.

“You just had to go with the Australian accent, huh Als?”

That wasn’t an accent you could fake. Crime Alley born and raised all have different accents—from part of the block, which gangs you ran with or didn’t, languages you were fine with, who you were trying to distance yourself from—each was unique to the time and place and the way the person survived.

That was the accent only he and Mary had.

She was alive.

Jason Todd ducked into the alley before she could see him. He could feel her crane her neck around—eyes scanning everything just like he taught her.

Kori looked at him with a frown.

“Jason, what is wrong?”

“She’s alive.”

Kori opened her mouth to ask for more details, but refrained from it. “Is that not a good thing?”

“They were hiding her from me—fuck.”

He was going to kick _all_ of their asses. B was always on his list, but now Dick and Tim were ranking on it again. He knew something was up—he should have acted sooner. If he has then—then maybe his little sister wouldn’t have gotten fucked over by some hack hippy and wannabe hero running her school.

Maybe she wouldn’t be in three kinds of therapy.

Just.

Fuck.

“She got screwed up while I was away and—shit. Shit. Shit shit.”

Kori waited for Jason to continue.

“There’s no way she’d go to fucking Metropolis unless.”

“Unless what?”

“She still thinks I’m dead. She’s going to kill me.”

On the bright side, when she does, they’ll both be killers so maybe she won’t kill him for killing people who deserved it. Maybe.

* * *

Bruce froze when his special comm for Clark went off.

“Hands and knees, now.”

Bruce began to work out the logistics for which of his kids to deploy in the batplane. Him and Tim had their hands tied. Dick could run in the batsuit again with Damian for a bit—it does throw people off his trail. Stephanie was on blackout for midterms. Cass was out of the country.

He couldn’t let Jason get anywhere near this before he was certain if this really was Mary. It may look it, but he’s run down false leads before. He can’t risk it being Mary and her refusing to entertain the idea of Jason being alive.

Trauma changes a person. And he’s hoping she might want to see Jason. But her file… she could very well be unstable herself right now (is unsteady at the least) and if introducing her to Jason could hurt her, could hurt Jason he. He can’t risk it. He won't let more people get hurt under his watch--not when he can stop it. 

* * *

Marinette played along when she was brought to the kid room—keep everyone in line by separating hostages into groups that can’t see each other. Not the worst strategy.

The goons brought her right to her class. She pretended to be scared, kept the shaking and skittishness alive and well until the door was closed with a “and stay there unless you want to die” threat was issued.

Marinette straightened her back immediately and ran over to her classmates while looking over their holding room.

Marinette turned to where Juleka and Rose were huddled.

“Good, you have the hairclip I got you—I’ll need that—and Juleka, can I borrow your laces? Thanks! Alix should have a backup set on her, they’re shorter but they’ll do for what I have in mind.”

The kids from outside of her class were staring at her.

“Just sit down and be quiet!” one of the other teens hissed.

Marinette rolled her eyes, actively switching to English to address them as really. This is why Metropolis is worse than Gotham. They really think things will be better if you placate your kidnappers by being obedient little sheep.

“Listen up bitches,” she let the Old Gotham ooze out in her tone. “I’m not going to wait for your boyscout.” She wasn’t going to tell them he’s trapped with them. “And I’m not going to get killed by the amateurs out there either. Leave with us or not, I don’t care—that’s your choice. Just don’t get in my way.”

“You’re a Knights fan, huh?”

The Metropolis Natives got it in one.

Marinette let her grin go just a touch feral. “And we hate clowns in my part of town. Now," she could feel her face trying to split with how hard she was smirking as Metropolis Natives listening to a Gothamite? Petty victory. "Ready to do what I say?”

The others nodded reluctantly.

“But, what about…” one of the teens gestured to the door.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Please, there’s only a few places they’d go without windows that can hold people, and we’re in one of those eight rooms. For now, focus on your own survival, I’ll handle the rest.”

When she turned around, Adrien was staring at her in horror. “But you’re a pink marshmellow,” he whispered.

Marinette rolled her eyes at him. “No, I’m not. Now, Juleka, do you remember the handcuff knot?”

* * *

Marinette was good at her job: surviving and keeping her team alive. Ladybug specialty. Right now, she has Max on Ivan’s shoulders to unscrew the top part of oversized vents that Metropolis had. Why did they need oversized vents, you might ask? For Stealthy Superman entrances on the villain flavor of the day. Man is built like a brick house, so guess what?

Wide vents large adults can fit in. So no worrying about having to leave someone behind.

Lila was doing her job as lookout. If it meant saving her skin, Lila could be relied on to do her part. If Lila also happened to be the most disposable in Marinette’s mind, well. Just a coincidence, not a grudge at all.

Adrien and Chloe were watching Lila anyways. Just in case.

Also as her strike team for anyone that enters. Chloe can and will yank you before you can process and silence you. Marinette sacrificed her jacket for this.

Kim gave up his sweatshirt to Marinette for the time being.

“Ready yet Mary?” Chloe asked absently.

“A minute more.” Marinette turned to Mylene. Who by and large has the best sense of direction and a knack for sensing possible danger. “Think you can manage leading them out?”

Mylene smiled a her, a bit shaky still. “Yes.”

Marinette squeezed her shoulder. “Thank you.”

She didn’t plan on getting out herself. Not this way at least.

“Got it!”

With the grate out, and Ivan gently placing it on the ground, the evacuation could begin. Part one of eight anyways. She figured she can get people out while waiting for Superman to find a way to slip away and change. Someone has to. 

* * *

Jason was twitching when he saw the police gathering. _Bastards took Mary_ running on loop in his mind.

Kori had run off to yell at Dick for being a dick once she understood the situation. She offered to stay but he really, really needed to get his head on straight with this mess. And for that, he needed some time alone.

He was glad he thought to grab his helmet before.

Red Hood may be a known violent vigilante and drug lord, may be an Outlaw, but when shit hits the fan, no one turns down help, especially his. And guess what?

Shit hit the fan.

Metropolis PD didn’t bother questioning him showing up, just began updating him on the number of hostages and letting him see the building plans. About ten possible hostage holding areas. The guy holding them all wanted to beat Batman and Superman, demanded the two make an appearance and fight each other to prove “human superiority over the alien menace” and blah blah blah. Dude was a Luthor fanatic too, and demanded they retract and apologize at gunpoint for criticizing his favorite CEO who “gets it” and fuck this guy and Luthor.

Jason decided this blowhard deserved his _special_ attention. Threatening his sister’s safety made it all kinds of personal and right now? Jason is more than happy to take out his problems on hostage holding dipshit "natural human" supremacists. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, do we like Jason finding Marinette and her flipping on Red Hood, or do we like Marinette getting the drop on Red Hood, knicking his guns and bolting better? Torn on this one for next chapter. vote below.


	7. Bad Ass and Break Downs.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette takes down Red Hood, Guards, Batman, And tells off FReaking Superman. oh, and has a mild break down when the job is done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE TALLY:  
> Jason finds Mari, she flips out on Red Hood: Zero directly voting for this, unsurprising but still  
> Marinette gets drop on Red Hood: III III III --> WINNNER  
> BONUS REQUESTS: *Red Hood finds Mari, she disarms him, flip him over her shoulder and BOLTS II  
> *Mari goes HAM on red Hood (Panic response) II  
> *yells something snarky like “NOTHING PERSONAL!” II  
> *Jason overthinks his asskicking and goes into “Have I deteriorated??? Am I OlD like bRuCe!!!” panic as he did not sense our girl II * somewhat followed through. he can process this panic at another point in time. maybe.  
> *gun theft I (but I love this so I takes)  
> UNEDITED MESS HERE as i said fuck it, too long. edit later, post now.

Marinette decided to check the time. It was an hour and three minutes since she ended up in the room and began ordering people around. Evacuation part one was underway.

Lila was the last one she helped into the ducts.

“Stay.” Marinette made use of the desk Kim kindly moved for her earlier, while Ivan was helping people into the ducts. Once she was up, Marinette gave Lila the grate.

“… what are you—”

“Don’t.”

Marinette went back to work, taking the screws from before and carefully maneuvering each one in place before using the hairclip to screw the first one back in.

Lila stared at her as it dawned on her.

“What do you think you’re doing.” It wasn’t a question, at least, not Lila’s kind.

“I am going to save the idiots in this building, then go back to my room and have a well deserved breakdown if I don’t die first.” Marinette moved to the second.

“Aren’t the—”

“And they’ve been helpful in these kinds of crisis’s when, exactly?”

Lila was silent at that.

Halfway through the last screw, Lila decided to talk again. “They’ll blame me, you know.”

Marinette snorted. “Core Four knew I’d pull something like this and that there was no stopping me. Its not like I didn’t brain the invaders back in CM2.”

“… you did what.”

“I blacked out in the panic, but Chloe said made the star guy into mash goo.”

Lila didn’t say anything when Marinette hopped off and lifted the desk from the middle, carefully making sure it didn’t touch the ground. She didn’t need the sound.

Lila was still starring when she was done. Oh great, she forgot most fifth graders didn’t brain the starfish invaders… was that one of those things she isn’t supposed to mention casually? Question for the therapist or Core Four at a later date. ~~If~~ When she survives.

“Do you need a written invitation to go, or…”

Lila made herself scarce.

Marinette checked the time. Great, that ate up 20 minutes… and she needed to move. Maybe fake having been in the bathroom?

She checked her ‘handcuffs’—a total of 18 shoelace handcuffs Juleka knotted for her. The metropolis kids didn’t even ask what she was having Juleka do—apparently goth tying knots is another way to terrify them into compliance.

She’s beginning to think they’d last less than fifteen seconds in Gotham. Maybe ten—depends where they went. In a Paris attack they’d probably get akumatized or she’d have to revive them. depending on the brainwashee flavor of the day.

With that (tiny) bit of solstice, she checked her purse. Phone was taken, but the guy left her “toy”.

“Marinette…” Tikki began. “Someone has to, and we both know who can’t because I got the timing off.” Tikki sighed, nodded, and helped lead Marinette around the halls.

Her “shit will happen soon” sensor went crazy. In true (Todd) fashion, she got into a corner adnd climbed up the ceiling and waited. Bright side of running around barefoot/swapping for flipflops with the Metropolis Incarnate girl, easy climbing with no shoe print. Tikki hovering with them during moments like this made things a lot easier in case she Did need them for broken-glass-related reasons.

* * *

Jason made it to the lowest point he thought they’d hide people. First one was a bust, but oddly neat. Maybe it wasn’t in use.

He was headed to the second one when something in felt off. Not Pitts off but something like it.

Then someone actually dropped on top of him when he went to take cover.

Said someone decided to choke him out, dislocated his shoulder (he Felt that) and somehow found really, really quiet zipties that were a lot stronger than they should be. The fact they looped them around his feet and basically hogtied him did not help.

Then his guns were palmed. All while he was trying to come up with something to say. (Shit. This must be how the usual batfam vics feel. It sucks.)

When his assailant got up, their movements were almost silent. Just a slight sound.

“Nothing personal.”

Then he saw pink pants and a white cami or tank making a break for it. In pigtails. Wait a—

“Mary!?” his synths were still on.

Kid ran faster after that.

Shit. Shit Shit Shit. That was her. and she just kicked his ass.

Was he losing his touch? Shit—is he going to be replaced by Damian? Tim’s already got world’ best detective for three years now (Bruce can suck it) and they all agreed Cas is the next Batman.

Fuck.

Damian’s going to take over being Red Hood.

He’s only 22 goddamnit! ( ~~and still needs to die a second time by Pixie Pop's hands~~ but still.)

* * *

Marinette was freaking out. One of the thugs had Actual Armor and looked professional. She managed to take him out by sheer luck already, but what if there were others?

Her plan hinged on amateurs, not a professional. Fuck.

And they knew her _name_. Was it the article? Is she that recognizable, or are they from Before or just know about it. was this attack targeting her class but the amateurs botched it?

Fuck.

Fuckfuckfuck.

FUCK.

She was quick to handle the next guy at a distance and let Tikki handle the first strike (Tikki wielding Flip-flops for the win). Next strike was a quick calf shot—silencer on, tendons sliced. Slow, painful recovery for the asshole, easy on the surgeons that were stuck working on him later. And look at that, clean shot from yours truly. Win-Win and Win.

She managed to silence him with her discarded jacket from before. Just until he was completely quiet. Then dragged him into one the rooms and hid him under a desk, after tying him up.

She only has 16 knotted cuffs left.

She really hopes she finds Mr. Lane before resorting to scrunchy-cuffs. Really. _Really_ hopes its before that.

Next room was easy to get “caught” into being there. Play wide eyes while leaving the bathroom and holding her lower abdomen, ear buds in her ears with the chord coming from her purse.

The guy that nabbed her was nice about that, and just brought her to the nearest room. Even offered her some painkillers while being mildly panicked the whole time, especially when she spoke in Spanish first and made confused faces. Marinette decided she’d just tie him up, as he even bothered to type on his phone to explain while dragging her along, and apologized for this happening while she’s “having a real Not Good time” and dealing with abduction and a hostage situation. He gets a no-recovery-time-needed treatment for winning the ‘Less Of An Asshole Than You Could Have Been’ Award.

He did make the other guards leave the room and left her by the vent when he saw her jacket in hand, muttering that his cousin gets bad hot flashes too.

She really wishes he wasn’t going to get a criminal record for the whole ‘cool with abduction and hostages’ thing. In Gotham, it’d be NBD. She’s pretty sure in Metropolis it is a Pretty Big Deal, and not in the fun way.

Once the guards dispersed, Marinette did what any normal person in her situation would do. Roll her shoulders, use the chair she was given as a lift and unscrew the vents while the adults cowered in the corner together. Then quietly grab one, gesture to the now open vents, and let them figure their own way out from there.

Hey, if Superman got trapped in the building with them, its not like he’ll need them anyway.

Confused adults did as she gestured.

Once the room seemed to have their evacuation plan down, Marinette was quick to knock on the door. The nice guard was still there. She asked if she could get some more water. He left.

Marinette took out his partner in two shots since she saw the bruising on a lot of the hostages wrists. Pulled him in and tied him up. (Why no one checked her purse for weapons, she’d never know. Amateurs. All of them.)

By the time Nice Guard was back, she was ready for him. While she was waiting for him to passout in her hold (and the adults still evacuating were looking at her like _she_ was the dangerous one)

“Really, nothing personal but uh, hostages are No Bueno. Thanks for not being not nearly the level of asshole I was preparing for, I guess?”

Another passed out kidnapper later, and its been an hour and forty minutes since this shit began.

Marinette left the group and kept going. She knew the same ruse wouldn’t work twice.

Third “break out” was a lot easier than expected. Partly because Tikki lead her straight there. Mostly because the guards were mid-argument and someone inside must have put together it was a good opportunity.

Once Mari fired her shots into both men’s calves from a distance, a quick “Now!” came out and the people were ready to run. And did run the men over. And tie them up. It was noisy.

Until they saw Marinette with a gun. Then they turned right back around and closed the door behind them.

“Uh… you can use the vents you know. Since they’re still doing sweeps.”

“… you shot them.”

“Only their knees,” Marinette defended.

“You. Shot them.”

Marinette let the silence sit a moment. “…can I just open up the grate for you and you guys leave so I can get back to it?”

The door opened just enough for Marinette to slip in.

“Can uh, one of you drag them back in so they don’t get wind of this? IF they blame communication doing down on a jammer and don’t have anything to contradict that, it’d be great.”

Two hours and seven minutes into this shit starting up, and Marinette was working out freeing group number four. Mostly as they had two guards and they were both a little nervous. Great. Shaky hands time.

Marinette had Tikki use the flip-flops to distract them. They both ran off

Sneaking in was easy from there. Idiots didn’t lock shit.

Group stared at her for a long moment.

“Knights fan,” Marinette introduced herself, grabbed her handy dandy hairclip. “You evacuate by ducts, I keep going, sound good?”

The adults exchanged looks, but a few helped her up. she was getting good at this. It only took five minutes to get it open.

“I. Are you sure you don’t need any help, or want to leave?” one of them asked her nervously.

Which.

Marinette shrugged. “I’ll go when the cavalry arrives or everyone else is free. whichever comes first.”

One of the older women pinched her brow. “Honestly, what is it coming to that a baby has to save us.”

Marinette made a mildly affronted sound at that. “I’m sixteen.”

“Okay Ariel (durgatory).”

Marinette decided Fuck Them--she is not someone throwing her whole community away over a _maybe_. They’re on their own. Tikki’s distraction was still working. The fact this group was damn near mute helped a lot.

Fifth group was… a bit interesting. In the “all of them are judging me for taking out three guards” way. Not that she could do it, no. But that she let them kick each other’s asses by just. Implying that one of them _had_ to be the leader. And picked the one the other two couldn’t stand as the ‘leader’ she answered.

Hey, if letting them self-destruct was a bad thing, then it shouldn’t be this easy.

Two took out each other in a fist fight they were too focused on to see her take out their third a la Miss Congeniality. Elbow to the solar plex, instep stomp, elbow to the nose with a decent pop sound and a cheap-shot to the groin.

It worked, okay?

Waving the gun around when the other two were wrestling on the floor after trying up Not My Leader #2 was a special sort of “ah, so they realize who the real threat is now, huh?” moment.

The fact both of them just. Let her tie them up and said nothing when she knocked them unconscious before dragging them into the hostage room should say something. What is says, she’s not sure. But its something.

She has only 8 more handcuffs and its been almost three hours.

Six went down with little issue. The guards were already arguing as “they haven’t shown up!” and if that was a “yet” or “that’s because they’re taking us down dipshit. We should have taken a different job.”

Marinette playing confused-and-ignorant foreigner worked wonders on their mood. No gun needed. Headbutt to the nose for one, kangaroo kick to the Guy B while launching Guy A to the ground, quick handcuff to the wrists before using his shoulder to launch from and hit Guy B in the head with her bare feet? Less than two minutes to take out the guards, who just sit in the room quietly and fear her.

The occupants just blinked at her as she began ordering people around and made the self-proclaimed technician handle the grate with her hairclip. Which fascinates three women in the room. She gives them the info for the store she got it from, and they talk fashion forward tools for a bit as this? is apparently normal minus the wait time. And um.

Marinette thinks the fuck not.

Down with blind obedience; dig into your fight side of Fight-Flight-Freeze response. Use that response to remind others that YOU are a threat when need be.

… she may need a long cuddle session after this. She kind of wishes her parents were around to just. Burrow into Papa and let Maman cuddle her while drinking hot honey with a touch of chamomile. As fuck chamomile and its dirt taste. But bring on the calming and lowered heart rate.

Seven was… a moment.

Surely, they caught on to her at this point, right?

NOPE!

They think the others are punking them.

She can not make this shit up.

She doesn’t even bother distracting them. Just walks up with her gun and says “So Boss said you two can go on break, I got this.”

They almost bought it.

Her lack of a partner was the thing that didn’t sell it.

So she took them down in a few minutes, tied them up nice and easy, and then lobbed them into the hostage room. Okay, she’s getting tired, but she has to keep going and fuck. Her shoulder hurts. Recoil. She forgot about recoil. Did she dislocate it? Probably. Feels like it.

The people didn’t argue her telling them to unscrew the grate themselves in the slightest. She must look like shit or be scary as shit. Maybe both. Probably both.

Did she mention adrenalin drops suck ass?

She slammed her shoulder back in place and decided she’d let ONE parademic check it before going into anxiety fueled “FUCK FUCK SHIT” crash.

Once the group seemed to have the jist of evacuating, Marinette kept going to lucky group number eight. Who damn well better have SuperLane there or she swears to. She’s not sure who (Not messing with G-d) but SOMETHING that she’s throwing _even more_ hands if this shit keeps up.

She was done. No more battles. These guys gets snipped tendons as Tired.

She shot the guns out of their hands, kicked those away, tied them both up and stormed in with the power of Tired As Shit and Done With Your BS on her side.

She spotted Mr. Lane and didn’t bother hiding her “I am vaguely annoyed with you” look. Then set about getting someone to unscrew the grate, carefully keeping an eye on the door.

“Uh, I have to—” Mr. Lane began.

“At your own risk,” Marinette dismissed. Superman better not say shit about her methods after this.

Someone else tried to grab her shoulder. She’s running low on Think Power so she just. Wirst between shoulder blades. Cuffs them by back of the hands in between the shoulder blades, sweeps the floor and gets both feet with one of the cuffs, pulls it a little too tight, loops around the back of the handcuffs and knots it.

She dumps the guy with the other kidnappers. Doesn’t even bother looking at them.

She’s done. She’d taking the fucking elevator down and ditching the gun on the way as Fuck This Shit. If she runs into someone, they will face her blind fury unfettered by the part of her brain that does emotions and morals. She’s Fucking Done.

The wall of blue was definitely sending her RUN BITCH instincts into overdrive. But she does have the whole “let the professionals check your wounds” thing she agreed to a month into living with Maman and Papa ingrained into her. So she goes over there while staring at the ground so she doesn’t see That Shade of Blue that sends her into flashbacks and sets off her ‘You’re As Fucked As My Truamas Now’ button.

Paramedics were mildly terrified of her when she finished getting over there.

“Can you check my left shoulder? I might tried to relocate it but I may have fucked up.”

One of them twitched.

The another turned into a mother hen and began going over it.

“So… you’re the infamous Knights Fan?”

“Yeah. Oh, I shot a few guys with tendons snaps—made sure to avoid bone and they were clean through when I checked—easier on whoever patches them up in surgery but bitchy recovery. Total rookies with how they handled everything—seriously, no guards inside. At all.”

“… you did wrap the wounds, right?”

Marinette did not. There were other adults there. She’s pretty sure. “Different adults were there, so I think they did while I was on guard or moved to the next group.”

Mother Hen aged fifteen years at that. “… how many times did you fire?”

“Fourteen, kept count. Only shot six guys… I think. They’re in the old hostage rooms if that helps.”

Mother Hen looked at Twitchy.

“I’ll tell the officers.”

“So, how bad did I fuck up my shoulder?”

“Surprisingly, not a bad job with the relocation.”

“Really?” Marinette hadn’t done one in years, and never on herself.

“Kid, I just dislocated it and put it back in. Didn’t you…” Mother Hen was giving her an owlish look. “How high is your pain tolerance?”

“Depends how deep into survival mode I end up. Speaking of which, I need to go before I see the Boys in Blue and go “absolutely feral” according to Nino.”

Mother Hen took a deep breath. “They’ll need your statement.”

“Pretty sure they can piece it together or something.” Marinette flexed her feet as messing with her hands hurt just a little and that probably wasn’t a good thing. “I just. Need to go.”

Before Mother Hen made up their mind, The Poster Boy Boyscout swooshed over. “I need to talk to the little miss in private, if you don’t mind.”

“Just be careful, injured left wing and all.”

At that, Lois Lane Simp in Blue was giving her Pity Eyes.

“Just dislocated it, no big.”

The twitching was totally unnecessary. The fireman carry was necessary—princess would have aggravated it.

“You said no police right?” Superman said into the wind while flying her off to who-knows-where.

“…unless you want to see what happens when I black out. I just get told the end results and we add it to the ‘keep me the fuck away from’ list. And don’t give me that look for cursing. I can and will say fuck after that bullshit. Fuck, fuck, fuck and Fuck.” Marinette really wished she could cross her arms.

“I’m going to guess you ‘blacked out’ near the end?”

“Eh?” Marinette guessed she wasn’t allowed near the ground until this conversation was over. great.

At least no cops in sight. One trigger avoided. Yay. Heights and no yoyo fear back? Boo.

“Eh?”

“I’m still talking, so I don’t think I hit black out. Not sure. Chloe wasn’t too concerned about my speech when I made space starfish goo.”

“Wait, you’re one of the Starro Slayers?”

“I have no idea what you mean by that, but maybe? All I remember is something tried to go after someone and I don’t remember anything until about two week later.”

Marinette took Lois Lane’s Simp-in-Spandex silence as a ‘oh, not a normal thing to mention. Whoops’ indicator.

“... Has anyone told you that you’re allowed to let other people take care of life-or-death situations?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Hey, quick check, this isn’t being recorded or listened in on, right?”

He made a confused face.

Marinette waited until he told her that no one was listening in or recording their conversation.

“Great. As you don’t get to say shit.” Marinette could feel her “unhinged” side showing.

“Excuse me?”

“Not excused. You have like, zero secret identity keeping skills Mr. Lane. And before you say jack, you were x-raying me in the interview, and tracked people through solid walls. Its not hard to notice, and you’re not slick. Also, ask before radiation-ing someone—like, there are safety limits for reasons dude, and you don’t know how often someone gets checked or how close they are to that limit, and non-con radiation poisoning is a bitch.” Marinette remembered DD turning someone way for that shit before. Didn’t remember the cause, just DD demanding the guy stay the fuck away from his practice and “his kids” before calling up one of the gangs that owed him one to get the guy to leave.

_"Remember kid, don’t fuck around with radiation. Shit’s fucked ‘nough as iz.” His slur got worse at the end._

_Pixie nodded her head at him and asked if Jason could come and have lunch with them before he had her leave. He made them stay the night, just in case the guy came back or went after her. Jason didn’t let her go by windows anymore after that. Just in case._

“I got _enough_ Unknown Shit exposure Pre-Paris dropkicking into ‘be a nice, normal, not-traumatized mess unless you want us to Start Shit’ from Fucked Up Adoptions R Us. So like, get your shit together before going off and lecturing my ass—world may laugh its ass off trying to fuck me over, but guess what? I at least try to realize when I fucked up or what’s fucked up and don’t dropkick my shit on everyone else with no warning—Try. And sort of do the normal person thing until if I don’t, people get fucked. So like, no lecture-y. Just. Drop me off at my hotel.”

Superman was still staring at her. Shit. Um. Distract or redirect?

“h, and you need to cover your ass with the late thing, so um, say you were in space. Either have JL cover your ass or say you went solo and didn’t tell them if they’ve got a stick up their ass about protocol or whatever, and say signal cut out so you didn’t know and came over ASAP, okay?”

Superman was still staring at her.

“What? My class deals with shit like this almost daily, no big deal. Can, um, can I be on the ground and not possible pavement pancake? Please?”

Superman did, in fact, lower them to the ground and let her vanish into the crowd. It wasn’t until after she and Tikki got away that it hit her she left her jacket at with the paramedic. Whoops.

“…I just need to warn you, since you took down Batman and Red Hood, one of them will attempt to stalk your social media.”

Marinette tried to process that . She has no clue who the fuck Red Hood is (maybe Gotham Vigilante?) but is 30% sure that’s the guy who she hogtied first.

She took down one of the vigilantes helping at the start of this BS.

And then took down Batman at some point??? (Shit. Shit—that must have been the one she didn’t check. FUUUUCK.)

Fuck. She took down two hero/vigilantes who are probably more liberal on smack downs and super paranoid.

And then told Lois Lane Simp in Spandex she knows he’s Lois Lane’s Husband/Simp.

Shit shitshit shit SHIT and FUUUUUUUUUCK.

She screwed herself over. Spectacularly.

World really loves laughing when she fucks herself over.

She’s just. Running off to the hotel and hiding in her room.

Just. FUUUCK.

* * *

Robin was judging Grayson. As he was not quite in the right mind to go into the field as he was _pouting_ and sulking. Apparently he and Kori had a fight before they left. Grayson wasn’t saying, and he wasn’t asking.

Then he returns after helping the two other groups of hostages leave (with Superman’s unnecessary assistance) to find Grayson. In an intricate hogtie-handcuff hybrid. Made of shoelaces.

He sighed. “This is why I will succeed you sooner, rather than later.”

Grayson was flustered and kept saying it wasn’t his fault a _civilian_ go the drop on him.

“Really _Batman_ , a **civilian**.”

Finding Todd in a similar state with the same story was further proof no one should ever meet any figure of ‘myth’ as they are thoroughly disappointing.

“Oh and Bats, What the FUCK was the ‘not tell me my sister is fucking alive’ thing!”

Robin decided he would graciously pardon Todd on this matter. As that… is an acceptable reason to be ‘off one’s game’. And watching Grayson’s response boil down to “We weren’t sure if she was” and “Both of you are questionably stable and we don’t want a rejection to cause one of you to implode so we needed more planning time on meet up and if it was a healthy option for both of you” which.

Damian is going to presume that one’s dead sibling returning differently is something Grayson is more familiar with than Todd, yes. However…

“Wait, she took your ass out too?”

He was beginning to think this second Todd might be a decent addition to their family if this is her handiwork without training. Now its merely a matter of finding her and congratulating her on her brother’s resurrection…

He will leave that mess for Todd to sort out. Damian is not the most… delicate at delivering important “drama bombs” as Brown lies to call them.

* * *

Chloe ripped five reporters a new one for trying to get her statement. Was more than content to nearly kill Lila. Kim and her both were restrained by the class when Lila said Marinette wanted to keep going as _of course_ Marinette would want to help everyone. She’s a self-sacrificing dumbass with anxiety and is convinced on multiple levels her only value is helping others. And will only be liked for doing such things.

Chloe can _and will_ kick Mme. Perrault’s ass as Queen Bee **personally** if she cuts off Marinette or tries to lecture her for doing this. That is Chloe’s job as the Queen. And as Queen, its her job to yell at her subjects; even her chief battle-ready general. Especially for taking ridiculous risks for stupidly noble reasons when Marinette is one of Chloe’s and that makes her more important than the others.

Mary’s charity work can and will be restricted in battle, _or so help her_!

So Chloe did what anyone with familial diplomatic immunity does when annoying people nag them. Use said immunity and get the hell out of there to wherever they’re staying.

Chloe made a quick stop to grab a few comfort items as she knows Marinette, it will take time to get out and Chloe? Is not staying with the class. At all.

She doubts her little General will stay.

Someone needs to be there when she starts to crumble, and its obvious no one else is in a position to do so.

She bough a few fluffy blankets, various ‘one and done’ hair dyes (chalk and spray), a few hoodies and she grabbed a large mug and various teas and hot chocolate mixes. She had her own stash of honey (three bottles—one raw and two refined wildflower, just in case Ladybug used the horse and she had to become Queen Bee while on the trip) that she would graciously share with Marinette given the situation. She’ll make Kim grab more with her card later.

After shopping, Chloe went into her room and put the things there. One of the maids took the clothes and ran them through the wash while Chloe took off her makeup, showered, and put on “comfy” clothes that should give Marinette a better chance of staying calm.

The maid came back and gave Chloe her washed purchases.

Chloe texted her Father and asked him to patch her through to Dupain-Cheng’s parents for a bit. She asked which tea is best for Marinette during a breakdown, and how much honey she likes. And if she’s one of those milk-tea freaks. Finding out Mary is as much of a hot-honeyed water drinker as herself was a surprise. Not unwelcome, but a surprise.

She told them their daughter is being stupidly heroic, the channel the news was on, and that Marinette’s phone was taken with the rest of their tech, which is why she had to resort to using the hotel phone.

She promises to update them once Marinette is in the Necessary Shower on her mental state as “Have you _honestly_ forgotten the Space Starfish Invasion? She tore through them like tissue paper for two weeks, and once it was over she acts like she doesn’t remember saving everyone, ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. She’ll have them down long before dark and a human cat for the rest of the trip.”

Because that what Dupain-Cheng does—defend, destroy threats, offer snacks and do random activities and make stupid banners and be skittish about normal gargoyles and then decide to be weirdly skittish and snappish until she’s exhausted and collapses into a light coma on someone.

Chloe is too familiar with the cycle.

As Queen, she uses her general well. She also has to care for said general—make sure hse doesn’t burn out, but doesn’t take on more than she should. Just because Marinette has challenged her to be Queen, doesn’t make her any less Chloe’s responsibility. Her General failed at being a Queen already. She knows her place—an organizer, a strategist, a protector, yes. A leader if Chloe isn’t feeling up to it. But a Queen?

Never.

Queens don’t have the luxury of a break down or black outs or parents actually being there for willing to play with you or just hang out in the same area or eat and make meals with you. Queens have servants that serve their use, and Queens ensure their servants and citizens needs are met, no matter their personal feeling to their servants and citizens. Marinette is her trusted General and incapable of understanding basic etiquette of Queens and Servants and what is need vs want and possible vs improbable.

Chloe is given the key to Marinette and Alya’s room after the hotel gets a call from their teacher. At least Mme. Perrault is useful for something.

Chloe sets thing up, seeing on the news that Marinette is out (finally) and lets her parents know. From the live recording, Marinette did see a paramedic. Chloe will ask her about that later. For now, she gets the tea ready, goes through Marinette’s own PJ sets to decide which pants she’ll stay in (Chloe doubts the girl will be in a decision making mood) and sets up her change of clothes in the bathroom.

When a harried Marinette appears and is confused, Chloe makes her sit down, drink the tea quickly (not too hot, she timed it just right. Thank you microwave heating-and-steeping and tea blasphemy tips), and hustles her very shaky general into the bathroom.

She calls the bakers and tells them she girl didn’t black out, but she’s more than exhausted. She’s given a list of movies to put on, and messages Mme. Perrault to let her into Max’s room to borrow one of his gaming systems and one of his fighting games for Marinette.

Mme. Perrault tried (again) to tell her that it wasn’t necessary and probably triggering.

She shut up when Chloe told her its Marinette’s standard post-trauma treatment approved by her parents, who _Chloe_ is in contact with. And has their full permission to tend to Marinette and make these calls. _Not Mme. Perrault who isn’t even in the same building as them._

Chloe lets her father know how the ordeal is shaping up, asks if she needs to make any statements later and explains the charges. He doesn’t mind when he finds out its for the girl that’s saved them more than a few times. That it’s the girl that made invaders insides squish out with the force of her blows who is trying desperately not to run off and hide in an abandoned building since that’s the girl’s go-to apparently. The girl who save his daughter’s life dozens of times and who is trying not to cut others on her edges. Chloe’s dad never minded spending for Marinette and using her family’s bakery for every one of their events as they refuse to accept donations or let him pay for things or give expensive gifts. No, they’re too humble for that and Marinette panics at the very _idea_ of someone doing that for her of all people.

Once that call is over, and Chloe has the… Switch? She thinks that’s what its called, and some game called “Breath of the Wild” (apparently Marinette can attack things or just run around in it? She doesn’t know. Max told her that one is one of Marinette’s favorites), Chloe grabs the ‘extra’ boxes of various macarons she’s fairly certain Marinette will eat.

Her parents mentioned eating being hard after these bouts, so it was important to keep small things to eat on hand. She wishes she knew that when she was out shopping before… Maybe Sabrina can grab her that disgusting “fast food” Marinette likes.

Chloe has a puddle of Marinette on her the second the bathroom door opens.

“I fucked up.”

“You personally saved almost 500 people. You did not fuck up.”

“I hogtied Batman and someone called the Red Hood.”

Chloe was not made to deal with this.

“You did wHAT!” see? Not made to deal with this level of Mary Dupain-Cheng Ridiculousness Is Just My Natural State Of Being.

“I kind of stopped looking, by Batman. Big and approaching me in a vaguely threatening way? You go down and you stay down in those laces.”

Chloe nodded at that as, “seems fair. If he tries to hold it against you, I get ask Ladybug and the mangy Cat to help. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

Marinette groaned at that. “Nooooo, no murder.”

“Wasn’t planning on that. More ‘she’s our favorite civilian, back off’ as no one, and I mean no one, believes Chat and Ryuko did not have a crush on you at some point, and most people think Ladybug is intimidated by you or has a hero-crush on you. So not hard to believe.”

“Chlooooe. I do not need _more_ attention on me.”

Chloe supposed that wasn’t unfair.

“Alright, and this, what was it, Red Hood guy?”

“He carried guns. I sort of just. Tackled him from the ceiling, wrists to between shoulder blades and just Gah. I hog tied a guy that had _guns. I thought he one of the bad guys_. I am so on their stalk list.”

“What makes you think that, exactly?”

“Lois Lane’s Spandex Simp said so.”

“Ah, Superman… well. We have Markov.”

“ _Its fucking Batman.”_

“And?” Chloe raised an eyebrow at Marinette. Who has very, very curly hair right now, and apparently needs more comfort as she can’t see that she’s a terror in more than her own right. “Your last black out had you survive two weeks while keeping our old class alive during an alien invasion. Where you did more than a little damage to the starfish, and very little to the people you freed. Batman was captured, you weren’t. You’re his superior, he should be taking notes from you.”

Marinette choked.

Chloe rolled her eyes, as honestly. “Dupain-Cheng, you took down four akumas—one that you tricked by agreeing to go on a date with him, that musician you work with who stole people’s voices and who did whatever you said because he is simping real hard for you, and I know it was you who chucked the motorcycle at Desperada. And lets not forget when you were absolutely feeling like shit, you took down Reaper when not even the mangy cat was getting close. You did all that without _anything_ to help you.”

Marinette was blinking weird. “uh, I screwed up when Papa…”

Chloe rolled her eyes. Honestly. “I repeat, the mangy cat was getting nowhere, and you undo the plant thing on your own. No help. Completely isolated. And you still got out.”

Marinette was restless in her lap. Chloe pulled one of the fuzzy blankets on Marinette.

“But I—”

“You have survived how many attacks that killed people in Paris? And went back to get more survivors to safety—don’t think I didn’t hear about that stunt you pulled during Syren. As your Queen, I am ordering you to stop being a selfless idiot in hopeless situations. And as your Queen, I am telling you that you are better than Batman and Red Whatever as you saved almost five hundred people, alone, with what again?”

“…Shoe laces, a jacket, a hairclip and flip flops.”

“Yeah. Batman is using whatever tech he makes, Ladybug has her Lucky Charm. You make your own luck with things as ridiculous as a hairclip, shoe laces, a jacket and flip flops.” Chloe leaned back, carding her hands through Marinette’s curls. “Now, you are to realize that those idiots in masks should bow before your brilliance, and remember that my managerial skills are why you are able to use your brilliance on important things instead of burning yourself out on stupid things like if the shade of pink you’re wearing works with your skin tone. Feel free to thank me later.”

Marinette groaned at that.

“You can sleep, move, or play whatever “Breath of the Wild” is.”

“… I want badass and vindictive, but no fighting-fighting.”

“So Legally Blonde?”

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i cut off on writing here. Fight scenes are hard. making each a little different is difficult, hopefully that turned out well. 
> 
> and chloe trying to comfort in her narcissistic, but weirdly caring Chloe way. Also Marinette surviving multiple invasions by scaring the invaders is my personal HC for this series.
> 
> also this took writing wise, four-five hour binge. formatting 9 minutes. posted/published at 2 am. why do i do this when i have work tomorrow?


	8. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm back. ish. enjoy the ride.

Nora was beginning to regret agreeing to chaperone Alya’s class trip. The hostage situation was, unfortunately, nothing new for her sister or her at this point. A year of your whole city being held hostage by a butterfly wielding monster would have that affect.

Finding out your sister’s best friend is also a very tired, very traumatized child who has a habit of casually freeing almost 500 people from said hostage situation, and putting the fear of her into all that catch her? Well, minus that one group with the old ladies who were scolding the police. That.

“A child did better than all of you!”

“Ma’am, she’s uh—”

“I don’t give a damn that she’s a knights fan—that is a baby!”

“If she wants to pretend she isn’t, let her Margie.”

“A. Child. Goodness gracious, I told you this would happen when that man-bat started running around with that kid, didn’t I?”

“Yes Margie, now, how late are you with your medicine?”

“On time today, despite the events a _child_ saved us from while the so-called had their thumbs so far up their own bums that—”

“MARGIE!”

“What? Its not like the little dears haven’t heard worse on their shows.”

Yep. Nora was filing that away for another day.

“Uh, we did send in Red Hood—”

Margie crossed her arms and leveled the officer with a glare that made Nora shiver. “A hooligan at best.”

“And Batman—”

“The hooligan who started this mess of letting children fight an adult’s battles.”

“—but, it seem the knights fan uh, detained them by accident.”

Nora took a deep breath. “Please tell me she didn’t break them.” Nora wouldn’t be shocked per se, more… annoyed at the paperwork and explaining things.

A shell-shocked Superman showed up over her shoulder not even ten minutes after that. “Um, officer, this is for you.”

Superman handed him a gun.

“Please tell me that pigtails didn’t use that on someone.”

“… she didn’t kill anyone, if it helps.”

Nora swore.

Mme. Perrault said something that no one quite caught, but had the same energy as body slamming a brick wall.

Alya beat her to asking anything.

“Is she okay?”

“She said she’d be in hotel room, if that helps.”

“Mme. Perrault, can I go to my room? I know how to handle her drops from back home.”

Mme. Perrault pinched her brow. “I cannot let _another_ student leave unsupervised.”

Nora knew she’d later regret this. “I can take her, she is my little sister, so no issues on custodianship, right? And this way we have the missing pair under adult supervision again.”

Alya nodded viciously next her.

“I guess—there really needs to be a better protocol for these things.”

Kim glared for a moment before taking off his sweatshirt. “Give this to Marebear, okay?”

Alya took the sweatshirt and nodded.

Nora could feel the future headache the three in one room would give her.

As she hasn’t really spent time with Chloe, but she does know she’s an insufferable brat who hates everyone and has it out for Marinette. And Alya will be fluttering around her friend. Who may or may not be feral at the moment. Oh, and who shot people.

Why can’t Nora’s sister make normal friends, ever? Just. Why?

\--------

“But in my three years at Harvard, I have come to find that passion is a key ingredient to the study and practice of law.”

“Unless you’re really good at memorizing, cheating, bribery or—”

“Mary, please shut up.

“Nay.”

“and of life.”

“Eh?”

“Mary.”

“You must always have faith in people.”

“You have no comments?”

“Faith can be in them being assholes and saying Fuck It, I’ll be kind instead so can it.”

“…”

“And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.”

“Hey Mary, look, good life advice.” Chloe gestured to the screen.

Marinette huffed from her combo blanket nest and Chloe’s lap. Which is hers now. She lives here now.

There was a knock on the door.

“Marigold, you in there?” Alya asked.

“We just finished Legally Blonde,” Chloe yelled back.

The door swung open to show macron boxes on the floor and Marinette bundled up in her blanket burrito-nest on Chloe. Who is warm and put her curls in French braids.

Alya ran over, turning her head left and right. “Injuries?”

“Paras relocated my shoulders already.”

“Hot and cold packs?”

“I don’t feel anything really there, so.”

“Marinette,” Alya warned.

“She’s fine Cesaire.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “She did worse during the invasions with no one looking it over, and she was fine.”

“And you know this, how, exactly?” Nora asked warily, looking over the lack of general chaos in the room. And the teen that shot people. Apparently.

What even is Nora’s life at this point?

“I was the one keeping little miss Starro Slayer from running off without a warning.”

“She cuffed herself to me so I wouldn’t do another starro raid, I think?” Marinette turned to Chloe for confirmation.

“You _did_ break into an alien ship in the three hours I left you alone. And brought back a lot of people. Good deed but backup is a necessity. And clearly we need to get that through your head still.”

Alya hummed in agreement, still not convinced it’s a good thing Marinette is curled up on _Chloe_ of all people. As it _is_ Chloe. Even if she isn’t _as_ bad as before.

“When is your next session scheduled for?” Alya asked.

“Uh… it was,” Marinette trailed off, looking at the clock in the room. “Three hours ago. Next one is in a few days.”

Nora made a note of that, as uh. Missing mandatory therapy sessions is never a good thing, and hyper self-reliance is never a good thing.

* * *

Mme. Perrault was Not Having A Good Time.

When the kids got back to the hotel, they ran off to their rooms. Good.

When she went to check for them after calling their parents and getting the kids phone situation sorted out (getting them from the police was a hassle but a necessary one), they weren’t in their rooms.

No one was.

She checked Marinette and Alya’s last.

She was not expecting the kids and chaperones to be packed into the room in various states of sleep, sleepwear, blanket sharing, and lucidity while watching some movie.

“Wall-E”

Mme. Perrault was just. Too tired to deal with this.

Nora was still awake, and by the door.

“Just give these to them.”

Mme. Perrault was going to pass out now. The hotel staff already assured her that the kid’s dinner would be room service, and gave her their sponsor’s condolences for the day’s events.

She told the staff the kids and everyone had packed into room 415 and were unlikely to budge anytime soon, except for Lila who was asleep in her own room, 402, by Mme. Perrault’s.

Mme. Perrault was very, very tired. Why can’t she just get a break with this co-dependent class?

* * *

In the room, Marinette was currently passed out, spralled arcoss Alya and Kim. Chloe was nearby, hovering still. Sabrina and Chloe were going over schedule changes, listening to Alya’s in-put for maximum accommodations for their class’ interests.

Nearby, Alix, Max and Nathaniel were in varying states of wakefulness. Alix drifting between alert and exhausted, Max focused on playing on his Switch with Nathaniel giving a running commentary on his opinion of the art, character designs, and occasionally working out alternate designs for characters and races that hit “that’s very questionable” territory for him. Currently, he was deep in redesigning the Gorons and looking at older examples for “personal reasons”. Apparently the Gerudo were up next, and he has Opinions on outfit safety and practicality… and admits to preferring older designs. Max was willing to program a plug to change the appearances (outside of cut scenes—he is not dealing with animation) if Nathaniel gave him specifications.

Ivan and Mylene were with Juleka and Rose, humming possible melodies and harmonies for Rose to mess with in her song writing on request.

Nino was with Adrien, who is grappling with the concept of Marinette as “not a marshmellow” and was wildly vacillating between denial, horror, and panicked acceptance at any given point in time. Nino half asleep and nodding along.

This is the scene superboy (badly) explained to “Batman,” Robin and Red Hood. His dad was hiding from the girl in pigtails for some reason, and no one was telling him why.

Jon was personally shocked Damian hadn’t tried to recruit her for the Titans yet. But it wasn’t really his place to point out she’d be a good addition… Yet. 

* * *

Lois was furiously using every VPN she could get her hands on and changing her location. Finally, one of them worked. She managed to get onto Alya Cesaire’s Ladyblog and began to play the videos from earliest to most recent, taking notes where she could.

Clark was off with Bruce discussing their special Knights’ Fan and her own detective skills. And apparent missing memories and Starro Slayer title. And its various implications. Oh, and the fact that she is, in fact, the dead Mary Todd.

She was glad she took this part of the project instead.

The Gotham vigilantes’ questionable EQ wasn’t something she enjoyed dealing with when she didn’t get to tear someone a new one for being dumb. Apparently Bruce was trying to be thoughtful (he’s gone through over fifty separate candidates and dead ends over the years and didn’t want to give Jason false hope) but… It would have been a good idea to let Jason at least _know_ about an ongoing investigation into his then dead sister’s death.

Lois hunkered down for the next few days. There was a lot of footage and articles to go over on the Ladyblog, and she didn’t have any other assignments lined up for the moment. Besides, she is _technically_ doing work for the owner. After all, Bruce did buy the Daily Planet over a decade ago. and knew it was a good idea to leave Lois to whatever story she choose.

She kept taking notes and cross referencing the various akuma, their accounts, everything. Jon made her take a break when he got back. She wasn’t planning on sleeping until she had the full story after seeing the Bubbler clips. Hawkmoth was dangerous—and the second other villains found out about him, the world would be in some deep shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any one have any ideas for next day, or are you all fine if i gloss over the rest of the trip and have it be 'Marinette goes home and finds the goddamn JL in her room. and the class was sending someone for "mari watch" tonight so she has maybe a half hour to get the heroes out of her room." game.
> 
> as Jason? Has no clue how to tell his sister "hey, i'm alive too! Also, where the hell did you learn to get the drop like that. Oh yeah, i'm also a vigilante and handling the drug trade in gotham now--don't worry, it to keep them as clean as possible and there's rules and why are you trying to kill me and hug me at once. Shit, did i fuck up?" is his current idea of how to handle it.


	9. Why Marinette Is Not Allowed A Moments' Rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly DC characters' POV this time, with a dose of MMe. Perrault and Marinette.  
> also warning, Jason is going to make a dumb decision for a good reason, and its a touch angsty.

Jason is… struggling with how to be _Absolutely Certain_ its _his_ Mary. His Pixie Pop. Mary is common name, especially in Gotham. It’s a common nickname, and sometimes an insult if you start calling someone a Mother Mary Wannabe.

So yes. He has his own work to do confirming things while B and Dick are in the doghouse with him. He expects it from Timmers—kid is more paranoid than Bruce and his good little solider. He also doesn’t know how much Mary and Jason mean to each other. Or have any stinkin’ clue how badly one of them not knowing where the other was for even a few minutes would screw them up for _days_ after it happened.

Bruce did. He _fucking told him_. Dick knew what it was to lose a sibling. He should _fucking know better._ Tim is only not as high on his shitlist for one fact: Tim gave him any files that he thinks could be related that he managed to pull, and automatically forwards any updates from Lois on his sister’s involvement in these… akuma attacks.

Which he wants to go on record, her class and her whole block is ground zero at least 70% of the time. So either way, if this is really just some girl named Marinette or _his_ Mary, he’s already going to help. Bruce can suck it.

Cass was the one to knock a little sense into him when he hit a dead end.

“Teacher’s notes.”

Her class files from shortly after she was adopted were… varied and incredibly informative.

Notes included, but were not limited to: eager to learn, behind on writing skills, history and math. Punctual timing. Extremely protective of classmates for no apparent reason. Questionable grasp of French improves with gentle encouragements during check-ins, not through one-on-one coaching. This results in frustration and less comprehensible French. While friendly and sociable, she knows far too many swearwords and doesn’t realize these are inappropriate or how they can be inappropriate when confronted on this matter. Complaint only when things are explained unless you smile a certain way at her… she is then very obedient on the matter. Prone to teaching other students how to pickpocket and “fight for real” with terrifying precision. The ensuring ‘klepto battles’ are less terrifying as it seems fancy pens are the targets and Marinette is prone to judging in these games rather than playing. Persistent aversion, fear and even hatred of police and police uniforms is worrying—parents are unsure where this comes from. Maintains a strange obsession with Gotham and events that happened there when her records state she was adopted from NYC as an only child with no siblings. Suspicious. Mentions a “Blue Jay” often, likely an imaginary friend, but does so with an intense obsessive compulsion. Worrying. No attempts have gotten her to cease. Acts as though this person will find her and bring her back—that her stay in Paris is temporary. A dangerous delusion that must not be fed, instead, gently remind her of her new parents. She often will declare her brother will just have to join her here instead… while still worrying, this approach seems to have a better affect on her. Acts as though Gotham, New Jersey is her hometown, not NYC or any of its boroughs. Legal Investigation Pending.

Jason… was going to destroy something.

_Blue Jay was her name for him._

Marinette was Mary Todd.

That was all the proof he needed.

Now, now he needs to know what happened between then and now to make his sister a goddamn beast in an emergency…

He forgot how often Paris was targeted during “all hands on deck” JL ops. And during invasions. And fucking Starro—she was what, nine then? Nine… and there’s reports of a girl matching her description invading multiple “harvest” locations and freeing people. And running a ‘humans only’ resistance camp.

Apparently she was busy.

And teamed up with some local meta kids for backup? Speedster, a human siren, some kid with darts and telepathy, and a fucking mime who can partially warp reality by miming things.

What the shit.

Just.

What.

The.

Shit.

Further research led to more unnerving revelations. Including police reports of a “child in pigtails” using “scrunchy cuffs” and taking out various gangs in the part of Paris his little sister lives in.

Not to mention the recorded “memory blanks” for her (and her mock team) where each of them is missing time from a different mission.

Just.

f. u. c. k.

Should he tell B and get Paris investigated for possible mindwipes, or should he not to avoid his sister getting yoinked from her home. Which is weirdly… nice? Bakers that have a small staff and their home doubles as the bakery—depending on the floor anyways. They own the building, so its whatever.

Mary—does she like Marinette better?—is seen with them in a lot of pictures. Very involved parents. Good. She needs that.

And she has so. Many. Friends. Her whole class and then a people outside of it. Hell, she’s managing her own personalized fashion business—how did she keep meeting more celebrities and getting their endorsements???—and manages a local band that’s ranked in the top one hundred indie hits. Kitty Section.

Its not horrible… not good, but not horrible.

And in the pictures he can find of her, she’s… a person. Laughing sometimes, rolling her eyes is a popular one with #poking the sleeping marebear. And a few read as… threats. Especially the one where she flipped the brickhouse that is her adoptive father over her shoulder captioned “So. This is why the wrestling team takes tips from her.” and just.

She has a life.

Bruce would absolutely try to take her from all this once Jason said “yes, this is Mary.”

And he… he can’t do that to her.

Then he saw something in the pictures that didn’t make sense.

Small, almost negligible items just… floating. Only in a few pictures but she looked more… strained in those. Shit. Shit shit shit. Is she hiding being meta? And broadcasted it by accident.

This isn’t hard to hack into.

She could be targeted by bad people for that. Not to mention her (well documented) vigilante tendencies. Her lack of arrest was a miracle in-and-of itself.

He can’t, can’t interrupt this. Can’t ruin her life.

But he can sure as hell protect it.

(She’s better off without him in her life. She’s clearly doing well, even with the therapy. She… she doesn’t need him. Not the way he always needed to know she was there and safe…

Her being safe was more important than her knowing he’s alive. Right?)

* * *

Lois Lane is going to _personally_ be the ruin off Hawkmoth. Akumatizing babies. **BABIE** S! Even Luthor doesn’t—no. He made Kon. He can and will go that far, but at least he has the (questionable) decency to ensure the kid wasn’t a _physical baby_ in his evil plots.

Did Lois mention her parameters for who he could be? Ultra-rich, social recluse, and needs to have some involvement or obsession with the Mme Perrault’s class. As there was no other reason why so many repeat akumas centered on those kids and those they interact with.

She’s doing a social media deep-dive (again) while Clark is pacing back and forth.

Apparently Marinette is smarter than her grades would indicate… and has a possible vigilante streak. Potentially influenced by Gotham, or her adoptive father’s mother… A known (former) leader of multiple biker gangs with various causes. Ranging from escorting kids to court hearings, being domestic abuse victims bodyguards and transport, to some things Lois can’t quite confirm but looks very much like theft and redistribution of hoarded medical supplies. She can’t say for sure.

What she can say is this—if Marinette isn’t Mary Todd, Lois may very well have to convince the girl to look into joining or starting a JL branch herself. She’s too prone to vigilantism and too good at it not to. If she is Mary Tood, well. Then it will probably be a game of tug-of-war for the Todds between her adoptive parents and Bruce…

She doesn’t see that ending well for Bruce. Girl seems settled, for the most part. And Jason would probably follow her, not the other way around.

Hmm… Maybe Lois will get a mentee in a couple years. Alya does have the right attitude for live action reporting… She merely needs some… _guidance_. On the investigative side of things. Her theroies aren’t the worst, but clearly under developed. Lois can work with that.

* * *

A sane class would have gone back to Paris. A class with sane parents would have demanded their kids return to the city where you have an auto-revival as part of your local hero’s regular power set. Mme. Perrault’s class was not sane by her definition nor anyone who had not been somewhat brainwashed by the Dupont School System.

Why?

After finding out their kids were uninjured and had formed a pack around Marinette (to the point trying to pry them out of the room led to group rebellion) Mme. Perrault gave up on the pretense of her class being sane.

The parents contacting their kids only to find they move as a group in the city was… an interesting series of conversations. Mme. Perrault was now convinced only Mme. Rossi was sane when she pulled her own daughter off the trip. The other parents, you might think, would follow suit, no?

Nope.

The checked in on the kids regularly. Some hourly. But the kids assured them they were content to stay in Metropolis; as “a break from being akumatized” that none of the parents were denying them anytime soon.

Mme. Perrault was at her wits end.

Marinette constantly in physical contact with one of her students was unhelpful in the endeavor to return sanity to the class. From inspiring the others to undercut her own authority, pranking workers by somehow convincing the class to use various accents when they were speaking English, to sharing her and Alya’s room with the entire class—save for Miss Lila Rossi. Who was continuously ostracized from the class. Who could pass off as Marinette’s cult, in Mme. Perrault’s professional opinion.

However, the girl does not encourage this behavior, so Mme. Perrault is unable to blame her. If anything, she’s acutely aware of this questionable behavior and the first to shut it down when it crosses out of needed support or dives into possible dependencies.

This did not make things okay in Mme. Perrault’s opinion. It merely complicated matters and sorting out how to discipline a class who moved grafted their high opinion of Bustier onto their severely traumatized classmate. Who is also a known asset of unofficial cavalry. And is impossible to get to do anything she doesn’t already want.

Its not like lecturing a girl who hog ties two vigilantes with shoelace handcuffs is going to work.

Perhaps Mme. Perrault just needs to accept that the class’ way of coping with a certain akuma is to ensure Marinette is unable to get to that intensity again. Perhaps Mme. Perrault should give up. but Mme. Perrault would never accuse herself of doing such simple things.

Until she left her workplace that night. And saw a series of known public heroes get chased out of her problem student’s balcony. By bunny slippers.

Mme. Perrault would like to get off the hellcoaster that is the former class of one Caline Bustier. Marinette is a frightening cross of aggressively helpful, “problem catnip,” and a genius strategist with mundane items. She can understand why the girl is revered as their “Everyday Ladybug.”

She hopes she never lives to see the day when Marinette is granted a miraculous. She would then take over the world and install a strange form of world government that, while functional, would also be run by children. She has no doubt the girl would only trust her own age, would likely appoint her friends and the _Quantic Force_ as her advisors and fellow world leaders.

Mme. Perrault _does_ remember when the _Quantic Force_ was at full power during the Starro Siege ages ago. As _Slayer_ , it was little question of _if_ the girl could take down a unit. It was only a matter of _how_ and _when_ she would strike. _Kid Mime_ was the back-up and last line of defense in the safe-zone. _Melody_ was content to only speak when she needed people to be compliant, otherwise sticking to using her flute to Pied Piper victims to the safe-zone without incident. _Sparrow, “Merc”, Slayer_ and _Gavroche_ were prone to perimeter checks, “raids,” and scavenging. _Merc_ ran things back and forth while _Sparrow_ kept everyone in touch as the coordinator.

Mme. Perrault is simply glad that the girl has no recollection of the first team up. The subsequent ones… well. _Slayer_ and _Sparrow_ are the unquestioned co-strategists _for a reason_.

Why was she in charge of the _Slayer_ ’s class/cult?

* * *

Marinette would like to go on record that she is, in fact, a normal person.

Granted, her life has been far removed from “normal” for non-gothamites for most of her life. Despite her best efforts to Not Get Involved with heroics, she has a (well recorded) history of doing so—specifically in crisis situations. And she did tell Superman she knows his identity after giving him the ladyblog’s web address.

So on one level, she feels like she should have expected the bullshit she climbed into on opening the hatch to her room. On the other hand—a hoarde of strangers (all major public figures, some Technical World Leaders (King Arthur of Atlantis and Princess Diana of Themyscira), some aliens or in the gray area, some magic, some meta, some just human. All “Heroes and Vigilantes”TM).

They should know better than to just stand around in a teenage girl’s room and _not_ expect the following outcome.

Which would be this:

Marinette twitching, debating who she can take out the fastest and if she should leverage Mr. Lane being in Super Spandex to get them to get the fuck out of her room.

“Marinette,” the spandex simp began. “I know this is a lot but—”

“Get out of my room.”

The ginger in green snorted. “Not happening.”

Marinette grabbed one of her shoes.

Tikki was hiding in her sleeve. She could _feel_ Tikki doing the Power-Up.

“Get”— Marinette hurled a flat at the man. He flew back a few feet. “Out.” She hurled another one. This time people were actively trying to get out, and it only hit Green Arrow. Who was now being dragged out by a blonde in black. Canary maybe? “Of my room!”

The adults did, in fact, abandon ship.

Expect for the simp. Who was sighing. “I told them this was a bad idea.”

“Out!”

"Would you mind if I came back tomorrow? I can stay incognito if you’d prefer.”

Marinette took a deep breath. “Talk to Alya—she’s the reporter.”

Simp rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s the thing, she’s a reporter. But you’re the one that works with Chat on cases, who knows the area, and I’m going to guess you know more than a few people who know more than they let on. And that you don’t press on, because it isn’t your place.”

“Snitches die.” Marinette didn’t pull the punch on it. It’s a fact. “And I can’t do that to them.”

If she didn’t have Maman and Papa and those idiots to look after… well. She’s the last Todd standing, isn’t she? She may be Dupain-Cheng now, but she’s still Todd. Still the only survivor.

(Does it count as orphan if you only lost your family—your big brother—after being adopted?)

Simp was doing the pity thing again.

“Just wait around the rooftops like sensible dumbasses. Chat likes to patrol before Midnight and likes to take his snack breaks on the Eifel Tower.”

Spandex simp smiled at her. “Thank you Marinette.”

Marinette scowled at him. “Keep your creep crew out of my room—and do not come back.”

Mr. Lane in Spandex opened his mouth, only to pause.

“I didn’t know you were expecting company.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “I’m not **allowed** to be alone for more than ten minutes. Unless there’s an attack.”

Spandex clad Mr. Lane paused at her balcony door. “If you need me, just call.”

“I won’t, but sure. Just, go!”

The simp left the building only 30 seconds before Alix popped in. “So, by decree of Dad going nuts on his current project and my brother being useless, I’m staying here for tonight. If you want, we can both crash boy’s night tomorrow and you can destroy Kim and remind Max why you’re the official UltraMecha Strike III champion, and he’s second place again. Or you Alya gets custody of you, your choice.”

Marinette groaned.

“Think it over. Anyways, we have a chemistry test I know you forgot about tomorrow, so study time after unpacking.”

Marinette would love to kick someone’s ass right now. Like, perfect timing for an akuma people.

“Oh, and uh, so. Um. Ran into your old buddy Merc and he told me to give this to you.”

Alix handed her a very familiar pendent she _thought_ was destroyed during the last alien invasion two years ago. New chain—not her old black ribbon—but still. A small, repainted metal Blue Jay hung off the chain in mid-flight.

“I… thank you.” Marinette quietly put it on, tucking it under her shirt for safekeeping. “Can you pass it on if..”

Alix nodded. “The whole ‘no contact outside of crisis’ is stupid.”

Marinette quietly agreed.

“… Don’t you have things to unpack and a test to study for? We both know you still screw up your diagrams and how much of a stickler Mme. Mandeliev is for precision.”

“Fuck.”

Marinette scrambled from there.

She missed Alix glaring out her balcony, mouthing “watching you” to another pair of startled teens and making a few motions to get the point across. That they are in Deep Shit if they get within range. Though, given one was in traffic light colors, albeit dulled down, and the other was in bright blue… in the City of Lights… it was a little obvious where they were stationed in hindsight.

* * *

“So that’s Hood’s sister?” Jon whispered, pointing to the girl with pink hair. He could see it.

“No," Damian shook his head, "the other one.”

“… we’re going to have to have another batdad intervention, aren’t we?”

Damian rolled his eyes under his mask before resuming surveillance. “It’s Red Hood’s problem, not ours.”

'Pinkie' looked directly at the pair and mouthed "watching you" with the accompanying hand gesture. And a few threatening gestures.

“… Did pinkie just—”

“I believe it is time for a tactical retreat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, team 'let Marinette kidnap her brother'... are we also team 'she has no clue its him, she just wanted to make a Point post-akuma but he slipped up and now there's a Reunion Under Shitty Circumstances' happening? as i have seven different horrible ways to do that for maximal Crappy Circumstance and some are dual reveal, some are "My brother is a druglord now. the fuck." and a few are "...i kicked your ass, i am so sor--wait a minute. you've been around for years now--what the fuck. Why didn't you get here sooner! Sorry revoked." type with some comedy. idk which senario is best yet.
> 
> also-- Chat tries to corner marinette after school as "why did you send them after me with no warning?" "What do you mean, its not like i know anything about whoever you ran into." "...princess we both know you're a terrible liar. Also, why do you have my patrol route memorized?" "... take a wild guess who else goes on patrols." "Gasp! you're a vigilante too!" "... how did I ever have a crush on you?" style of marinette /attempts/ to do ID reveal as LB to her oblivious partner but Fails as AdriChat Is Too Dense.  
> Yes or no? as we need some levity after the angst fest, but it might be a little too heavy on Dense Adrien after he found out she's not a pink marsh mellow and only had a week to process this.


	10. Nightmare Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys really likes sorry revoked, huh?

“Hello, we are—”

Was this a test? Was Rena pranking him? Chat was pretty sure Trixx was with Fu, but he could be wrong. Was Multifox testing him for his lady--she's a great weilder and maybe this is how she gets back in her good graces? He's game. Or was it his lady or the Master doing this? He wasn’t going to let them get one on him. He’s learned from his mistakes in the past, and he can prove it. He can be a _complete_ professional and follow their rules and procedures.

“This is both mine _and_ m’lady’s department. You will have to wait for her tomorrow night and for us to agree that you are not fakes.”

“ _What._ ” Wow, they all had different expressions this time. Whoever was using the Fox is really, really good. You know, because why would the Justice League show up now? There hasn't been an attack for a week. Akuma are public knowledge, so they should have known _for months,_ right? Just the team pranking him. 

He's got this.

“We agreed months ago that we don’t do talking to any possible allies after Volpina, and any potential sentimonster versions of any heroes after Senti-Bug,” Chat explained. He made sure to hit both points to hammer home he did not forget when the rules were made or why.

“…you’re joking.” Wow. As if _the Wonder Woman_ would seriously talk like that.

“I am not. You will have to show up on the joint patrol tomorrow, I think 3:34 is when we usually take a break.”

“…AM or PM.”

“We don’t use that here.”

Chat was confused by the… creative swearing. He _doubts_ the real heroes would use that sort of language. In various languages… 

Only Fu knew that many langauges. Fu was just testing him with a Justice League illusion. Otherwise he just told off the help they very much need, to wait over 24 hours to start helping. And that was just ridiculous, right? Right...

* * *

Marinette wanted to go on the record with two things: (1) chemistry diagrams will be the end of her and (2) she will kill Hawkmoth and Mayura somehow. Maybe not physically, but she will break them in ways that are irreparable. Maybe annoy them out their sanity.

Why?

Because they ruined her goof-off night. If she isn’t able to patrol until Beyond Dead Of Night thanks to her overprotective friends, then this is the result.

She was completely happy demolishing Kim’s pride in his gaming abilities with a purring Markov in her lap. When that was over (re: it was really late) and Max’s mom reminded them its still a school night, her and Alix took over the living room while Max and Kim stayed in Max’s room.

Max’s mom never minded if Marinette got up at night and just left the house for a few hours—only asked that she keep her phone on her and leave the line open to her landline. IF an akuma attack happened, then she was allowed to close the line and wait somewhere safe until the attack was over to come back, or go back to her house. Her choice. No penalties one way or the other.

Her naïve butt had (mistakenly) hoped that the JL did their business with Chat already. It was close to midnight, and Marinette just… wanted some time to herself. Paris’ nightlife wasn’t like what she remembered of Gotham’s.

No gun shots to not hear. No screams to ignore. ~~No brother to—~~

Marinette grabbed at her necklace. Still under her shirt. She forced her breathing steady.

Last Todd she knows for sure isn’t dead. Even _if_ her biological father wasn’t dead, she never met him. _She doesn’t want to. She wants Jay back._

Marinette took some grounding breaths and kept moving. It was too quiet… Hawkmoth was planning something, wasn’t he? And Mayura was sure to help him out…

She sensed someone following her.

She looked into one of the display windows and got an eyeful of blue on a rooftop.

_“Most people never look up. ‘S why they miss seeing the capes run around all the time,” Jay whispered to her with a grin. “Its also why it’s the fastest way to get around during the day. No one looks up.”_

Marinette forced the lump in her throat down, and made her way into one of the quiet alleys while muttering, “I can see you. Stop following me.”

She kept going until she made it to the “shady” part of Paris. Went into the catacombs—the tour guide was used to her at this point. Didn’t even bother telling her to not leave the group. She always did. Instead, they gave her a ball of string to find her way back a la Minotaur’s Maze style.

Marinette wandered around for a bit before speaking again, because the feeling of being followed never left. “Simp, do you not get the meaning of stop?”

Super Simp reappeared with an apologetic everything—shoulders curled up and looking like a small kid in a too-big body.

“Sorry, your tip didn’t quite pan out.”

“… Chat skipped patrol.” She was going to kick his ass.

“No, he uh, he isn’t talking to us without Ladybug later tonight, well, 3:34 apparently?” Simp looked confused.

Marinette took a deep breath as (1) she is not patrolling that late tonight, and (2) goddamnit Chat. The one time she needs him to break the rules, and he doesn’t.

“I told you I’m not getting involved. Deal with the local heroes.”

“If I may, if you are one of the Sta—”

“Don’t let the Mayor or anyone involved with the government find out I said that. Its… I’m not supposed to know. Wasn’t supposed to—just. Don’t.” Marinette wished there was a shorthand for ‘I am considered an unregistered weapon of mass destruction and my existence is a violation of so many treaties that the only way I don’t get treated as a weapon is to get memory whipped and stay swept under the rug’. And one that also went to affect of ‘so don’t get involved’ and have that respected.

But given her luck, she’s not pushing it.

Super Simp took a deep breath. “You’re not registered.”

“No that got involved back then is, so don’t.”

Super Simp furrowed his brow then. “That isn’t the part I’m worried about. Are you getting any help for what happened back then?”

Marinette twitched. “The ‘not remembering’ is the help.”

He was frowning at her. She doesn’t like it. “If you want, and I can get being wary as someone with powers but—”

“I don’t have powers—why does everyone always think I do?” Marinette ran a hand through her hair. “Seriously. I just pick up things and they turn out useful.”

Sewing evolved into stitching up bullet wounds and learning about the human body. Looking around turned into noticing things and asking questions and learning a lot about little things people forgot about—like how things bounce back and how hard or soft it is changing how the force and speed of it squishes against the wall and ground, and how it shoots out. She’s good at asking questions and remembering answers. Knowing that silence meant overlooked was something she never forgot, and made it a point to account for in her own plans. Being willing to follow through when others got squeamish was just a difference in how they grew up.

She doesn’t have any powers. She’s only as physically strong as she is because she helps out at the bakery and those flour bags are _heavy_ until you get used to them. She knows how to cling to bricks in the wall because it was needed and she never let that skill rot.

Superman was blinking at her. Why was he blinking at her?

“… we are going to _actively_ have to keep Batman away from you.”

“Is he still mad about the time I flipped him, or was it one of his knock-offs? I know there was the time the psych went beyond koo koo for cocoa puffs and tried to yoink the mantel, and the time that Batman went really went off on the violence after Bane so…”

Simp stared at her. “You know there’s been more than—I am so glad I left the comms in my room.”

“… Reminder, I am not adoptable, nor bat-kidable. I live here now; Gotham doesn’t have anyone that ever gave a damn about me still breathing.”

Simp looked ready to argue, and Marinette didn’t have time for this nonsense. “Look, I already missed a therapy session, I am not unpacking any of the things you might try to pry open. Those things stay packaged up until I’m required to look into them, and I still have two more days of sweet, sweet self-denial and avoiding my feelings to go before its semi-safe for me to be a mess, okay? Bitchmoth hasn’t sent out the butterfly of the day yet, and I’m not getting lectured on a Reaper Part Two.”

With that, Marinette decided screw tactical retreat, she’s full on bolting out any of Metropolis’ “feel your feelings” BS. She’s in a city where her grief almost got two people killed. Emotions are FORBIDDEN unless the ‘polite’ kind.

Once she gets out of the way she went, and ditches her ball of string, she heads off to Max’s again. She just… needs to cuddle Markov for a while. He’s already waiting for her. Max’s mom opened the door and gave her some hot tea to drink as “she looks like she needs it” while Markov purrs on her lap.

* * *

Superman had two options after that conversation: tell the Bats that there is a very traumatized girl who is a lot smarter than she looks (and is not meta, contrary to Jason’s fears of her facing meta discrimination if they can trust her own judgment of her skills) OR he could not. As Gotham is _anything_ but stable and the kid looks like she needs that. But Paris is also not stable.

He decided to pull Red Hood aside and turn off _both_ their comms for a quick conversation.

“Hey, Hood? We need to have a talk.”

“Yeah, we do.” Well they were on the same page, even if he was mad. “Why the hell does she look like shit right now?”

“It seems like her uh, situation, is um. More complicated than we thought.”

Red Hood froze. “What do you mean by ‘ _more complicated_.’”

Superman sighed. “ **If** she _does_ have powers, she isn’t acknowledging it. But she did make it clear she doesn’t want her uh, title of _Starro Slayer_ to get around as it meant she remembers or was told about it and that its something she isn’t supposed to know.”

Hood froze. “ _What!?_ ”

Superman rubbed the back of his neck. “And from last night, it sounds like she’s constantly monitored against her will…”

Superman could hear Hood’s hands tighten. 

“And uh. Well, it looks like she’s at the center of not one, but two cover-ups if we take her adoption file into account. And then her apparent involvement with the local heroes…”

Clark pretended _not_ to know what the words that fell out of Jason’s mouth meant.

“Oh, and uh, she’s doesn’t… doesn’t seem to be have processed being, likely kidnapped out of Gotham, and losing ‘everyone that gave a damn’ well. I mean, we knew that from the grief therapy but she said she didn’t want to cause a Reaper Part Two, so.”

Superman decided he’d hold off on telling him Marinette realized there have been “copy bats” in the past and that she might have taken down one of them instead of Bruce. It was… something Batman would need to know at some point.

Hopefully after her and Jason have handled their… situation.

( ~~Why are the Bats’ lives so a bad soap opera~~?)

* * *

Marinette was about to go on patrol. She felt a bit hollow, but it was still something she had to do. Markov went back to Max’s room, and Max’s Mom was getting ready to leave for work.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off before I go?”

“I’m sure. I just… need some alone time in my space.”

A cheek pat and hug later, and Marinette was off. Ladybug did miss a lot of patrols, and apparently Chat was trying to be responsible at the worst time for her.

Just her luck, right?

She tried to ignore the fact that now she has fucking JL spies on her. This one knew how to hide though… she wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. On one hand, competency is something she appreciates.

On the other hand, this person is competent at stalking her.

Not something she appreciates.

Once she was home, she made her way into her room, set up her alarms and texted her friends a quick ‘I needed some space after a walk, at home, see you in class’ message to her favorite trio. Markov already knew as its Markov—when doesn’t he know where she went?

The answer: when she goes underground. There _is_ a reason why she knows the catacomb tour guides well enough to be given a goddamn ball of string on entering at this point. They’d rather not have to look for her. Again.

Marinette knew she needed to get away for patrol… but she _does_ have a stalker to account for…

Then she heard one of her least favorite things.

“The Sandboy has checked in! Now nightmares can begin!”

She also knew the best way to get her stalker off her back was to wait for him to hit her room and run. She hates this part. Waiting for her nightmares to come to life…

She saw the “sand” fall closer and closer to her through her roof. When it finally hit her, she made herself stay still. Its not like Sandboy goes for fears she’s lived through, so there’s that bit of solstice.

“Hello princess, I missed you.”

Marinette snapped her eyes open and ran.

She wasn’t expecting Chat Blanc.

She _thought_ it’d be like Nightmare Adrien.

But no. Noooo. Her plans just had to be thrown out the window.

She ran out her balcony and _jumped._

Chat Blanc paused when she did.

“Really princess? It took finding Bunnix again to find you. And do you know how hard it is to find that miraculous?”

Marinette reminded herself this is a nightmare, not reality. Just a fear-gas hallucination made tangible. Not Reality. She just has to keep on her feet, right?

Simp swooped in to catch her.

“You need to go, **now.** ”

“What is that thing?”

“Long story short? Timeline sensitive or something and that?—that thing took out the world in deleted timeline. Including your team.”

Simp almost stopped flying. “How do we—”

“Wait for Ladybug and Chat to take down Sandboy and try not to die. The cure takes longer with more deaths.”

Marinette could feel Blanc closing in.

She jumped out of Superman’s arms and hit the ground in a roll. That would smart after the Cure, but its not like she hasn’t had post-akuma injuries before.

“Cataclysm!”

Marinette didn’t look back. _She didn’t need to see what remembering destroyed this time._

* * *

Jason kept an eye on his sister going home. Watched her get into bed and kept an eye out for anything that might try to attack her or her home. Then he saw that thing—akuma. They were told not to do anything until Ladybug and Chat said so.

Then his sister was being chased by Chat Noir in white.

And his sister jumped out her balcony.

Supes saved her, but only barely.

Then she jumped out his arms, landed and kept going.

He didn’t get _why_ until the Chat White yelled “cataclysm” and supes was dusted.

That was what was hunting his sister.

Fuck it. He’s dragging her to a safe house _out_ of Paris.

After they survive this.

“Hey Shitty Kitty!”

He took aim and shot the damn thing.

It didn’t work. Thing wasn’t even phased.

“Don’t get between me and my puurrincess. It took a long time to get here. And I’m not letting her go.”

Jason called it in. White Chat is evil, stalking his sister, and oh yeah, Killed Supes.

Fuck.

* * *

Marinette managed to make it to the sewers and lost Chat Blanc in them. It’d take about fifteen minutes for his ‘fear tracker’ or whatever it was to kick in hard enough to find her. By then she’d be Ladybug, and hopefully have Sandboy taken down (or almost).

“Tikki, Spots on!”

She managed to make it out without Blanc finding her, and saw a lot of chaos.

“Focus on the cause, then fix the aftermath,” she muttered to herself, running fast only to throw her yoyo and start swinging.

The Justice League was trying to help at least. Mostly focused on the individual fear manifestations, not Sandboy.

Chat was busy fighting his amok—a sandsnake—with a very angry Amazon.

She heard something like her yoyo beside her.

“Is this what your battles usually?” a walking trigger named Robin asked her.

Is there a way to _not_ look at the latest update to the outfit your brother was forced into for his public execution? Or talk to the guy wearing it? Is there?

No?

Fuck her luck.

“Not always this much variety, but yeah.”

She kept her eyes forward. “How can we be of assistance?”

“I just need to—”

“Find and break the akumatized item, we are aware.”

Marinette would be surprised but she was talking to Super Simp a week ago. At least someone did their homework and shared with the class.

“Up for distracting him while my partner is tied up?”

“Affirmative.”

… is it her, or have the Robins become very… militant since she was last in Gotham? Her Robin was the terror of gothamites giggling at the law’s existence, sure, but he spoke like a person. Minus the weird curse replacements, that is.

Ladybug tried to focus on seeing what was akumatized this time—what stood out on Sandboy as ‘not fitting’ but somehow essential while Robin distracted him with a lot of birdarangs. The only thing that really stood out was the pillow. Last time it matched his outfit. This time it didn’t.

But that was too easy…

Or Hawkmoth was slipping.

“Get his pillow!”

“On it!”

Ladybug swore when she felt Blanc getting closer.

“There you are m’lady!”

Blanc was running up behind her.

“Watch out m’lady!”

The sand snake threw itself at her.

She did what a sane person would do. Threw her yoyo low and swung out the way.

“Ladybug, are you—” Wonderwoman began

“Do I want to know where that came from?” Chat interjected, twitching at the actual fight between a very angry white version of himself and the sandsnake began. Blanc was currently being crushed.

“You know how Bunnix deleted a few timelines? I got dragged into one.”

“Ah.”

The sandsnake ate Blanc.

“Well, that should took care of one problem…”

The snake roared, its eyes now an eerie blue and staring at her.

“… please tell me it did not just get stronger.”

“You told me not to lie to you m’lady.”

Ladybug really wished cursing was on the table. Really.

“Well, time to bug-and-snake!” Ladybug was quick to take to leading the snake _away_ from Sandboy. Who now was facing projectiles _and_ an angry Superboy.

She felt bad for the kid if they remembered.

For now, she had a pissed off sandsnake to keep distracted and away from the main fight until they secured the pillow.

And the snake was turning white?

She took a hard turn and landed before looking back.

Shit.

It deteriorated before her with a pissed off Chat Blanc in its place.

“There you are m’lady. Now tell me, where’s my puurrincess? I’ve been looking everywhere for the two of you.”

“I won’t let you harm her again.”

Ladybug looked for the amok item in the debris. A stuffed snake?

“Really m’lady, you know me better than that. The only one I tried to kill was you because he made me.” Blanc scowled at that, continuing to circle her. then his features smoothed into a smile. “But Hawkmoth is gone from my world. I can take you there if you want, or better yet—” Blanc’s smile was feral. “We can kill him together this time m’lady.”

Ladybug dove for the amok. She had to end the amok before it could reform.

“Really, m’lady?” He was faster than her. _She was always too slow when it mattered_.

“Blanc, give that back.”

“Oh m’lady, you just have to agree to stay with me. Its not like your Chat even knows how to read you, does he? Still makes you handle everything and can’t be bothered to make up a plan that isn’t ‘follow your lead’ or a sacrifice play. Aren’t you tired of _always_ being the only one that can be responsible?”

“Blanc, I have a duty to Paris.”

“And I told you, I’ll take care of your Hawkmoth just like I did mine.”

“That’s wrong Blanc, you know that.” Ladybug feels like she’s back in _that_ timeline again. The one where she failed everyone. When the Chat before her was the only Chat.

“Is it really? He’s ended the city how many times? How many timelines did you have to live through being reset?”

_Thousands. Every time the Rabbit or Snake is used, she still remembers what happened. Each variation. The curse of the Creation Miraculous—you never forget the possibilities._

Ladybug grit her teeth. “That’s not the point!”

She hoped someone got there soon.

“Then what is?”

She isn’t opening that box. Its not a good one. One that gets her trouble and that no one likes to hear.

“We’re not doing this Blanc.”

Ladybug threw out her yoyo. She needs to get him more isolated. Chat can follow her lead. ~~He always does.~~

“Oh no you don’t!”

“Catch me if you want to find your princess.”

Ladybug bolted.

Blanc took chase.

* * *

Chat led Superboy and Robin to Ladybug’s (moving) location.

She ran to a construction site. He didn’t get it. Why here?

“Where is she m’lady! Where is my Puurincess!” Blanc shouted.

Blanc was throwing Cataclysm rays. How was that even—

Superboy didn’t hesitate to throw the pillow into one of them.

Ladybug used the building’s frame to swing up and catch the butterfly. “No more evil doing for you!”

“M’lady!”

“Chat?”

“WHERE IS SHE!”

“Get the toy he has!” Ladybug yelled, dropping onto the beam so Blanc threw himself out and over the building and into a sandpit.

Superboy scrambled to get it with Robin on his heels.

Chat stared at his lady. She was shaking.

He heard the sound of metal snapping into place.

“m’lady?”

“j… just get the amok, okay?”

Chat nodded, only to see Superboy beat him to it.

Superboy flew over to Ladybug, almost trembling. But that can’t be right. Supers never get scared, right?

“What do I do so you can bring him back?”

Ladybug took the stuffed snake out of his hands, and carefully tore it. when the blue feather drifted out, she snapped it up with her yoyo.

“No more evildoing for you, bye-bye.”

Chat stared as she did finally called on her lucky charm. He couldn’t see it though. She threw it up in the air and yelled out that magical phrase. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The ladybugs swarmed everywhere.

“Dad?” Superboy was clutching something to his ear. “He’s alive!”

Ladybug nodded, a tight smile on her lips. “Yeah.”

“Thank you!” Superboy broke the no-hug rule.

Ladybug froze up. Or maybe kryptonian strength beats hers?

“Thank you! thank you! thank you!”

Ladybug’s earrings beeped.

Chat realized he didn’t use his cataclysm.

“M’lady?”

Ladybug jumped. “I know, uh, can we do this some other time?”

Superboy let her go. “I, right, you time out after using your powers.”

Ladybug flashed a smile, flying down with a “yep!”

“Pound it?” Chat asked, feeling well… relatively useless. He didn’t even use his power.

“Pound it.” Ladybug held up her fist and he met it halfway. “See you next time I can get away.”

“Your family still freaked out about—”

“Its to the point someone is always watching. Makes it really, really hard to get away kitty. Sorry patrols will have to be more solo until this blows over.”

Chat did his best not to be disappointed.

It didn’t work.

He still was. 

* * *

Marinette managed to get back into the sewers before she timed out. Then kept going.

It wasn’t unheard of for her to use them… and she may have an old Quantic bunker in this one.

She just… needs some space to get her head on straight.

Then she heard someone drop behind her.

Fucking Helmet Head again.

“You’re coming with me.”

The hell she is.

Marinette did what any panicked teen with combat training would do. Evade herself into a corner and then bounced off the walls to get behind him.

“Get off me! This is for your own good!”

_So was making her forget her friends._

Marinette managed to get her legs around the guy’s neck and hold on tight. Like Maman had her practice on Papa. He really did try to throw her good. She knew she’d be sore since she could _feel_ it. But she held on until the guy passed out.

She held on three more seconds for good measure before dragging him to the Quantic bunker.

She wasn’t surprised to see the fake red-sun handcuffs were still there from the last invasion. Good enough for what she needed to do.

Hands cuffed behind his back. Marinette waited for him to come-to. It only took a few minutes.

“What the…”

“What the fuck makes you think you can come after me? I kicked you ass in Metropolis by accident because you were the sloppy. That’s your problem, not mine.”

“I, Pixie, no.”

Marinette froze.

“Listen, I don’t care if this is some sick shit from someone that knew DD or whatever, but the only reason I stayed in Gotham is fucking dead—or did you miss the video the first time? It may be hard to find now because that shit shouldn’t even have been aired in the first fucking place, but it doesn’t mean that Jay didn’t fucking _die_.” Something was cracking in her and she hates it. That box her therapist keeps opening decided it was time to open up when she Really Doesn’t Want To. Its emotions should stay there and die. ~~Like Jay. Like Catherine. Like she should have.~~

“And I’m not going back unless Jay takes me there and he’s fucking _dead_!” she yelled at the end. And Marinette hated herself for the stupid tears that had no right to just spring out of nowhere and decide to make her look like a some angry kid not getting their way.

“I, Mary no. No Mary, just, take off the Helmet, okay? That’ll explain it, okay?”

Marinette fucking hates this. She hates that helmet head is pitying her.

But if he’s dumb enough to give her his secret ID, fuck it.

She’ll blackmail him into leaving her alone if that’s what it takes.

He guides her through the latches.

She’s not surprised by the second mask.

To spite him, she rips that off _with extreme prejudice._

Then she gets a good look at him.

“Hey Pixie Pop, so uh, took almost a decade but—l”

Her life makes no sense.

She tackles her dead-but-now-not brother.

“You fucking idiot how did you—I, I am so sorry about—wait no I’m not. What the fuck!” she decided to hit him then hard. “Why the fuck are you a drug lord!”

“Ow!” Jay—kwami, he’s actually alive—started up his defense. “Okay, in my defense, I decided to do quality control and all my users are monitored for overdose. On sight docs ready to help, and anyone that wants out, gets out. No questions asked. Dealers know to leave recovering addicts alone, no kids allowed and if they’re pregnant, you bring them to the recovery center no matter what.”

“Jay. What. The Fuck.”

“I thought it was a good plan!”

“And you didn’t think to find me sooner!”

“I thought you were killed by one of Joker’s bombs! Until a week ago, I didn’t know you were alive!”

“Wait—was that why you were—”

“Had ta confirm with my own eyes an’ ears. The hostage situation was a surprise—I’m just glad I had my gear on me. Speaking of—who the hell taught you all that?”

“Uh, sort of figured it out. Maman and Papa started teaching me bits and pieces here and there after the starro invasion, but before that? Guess work from what I learned from you and everyone else. Lot of it was ‘don’t do this’ because DD liked to complain about how people screwed up their knees and back. Therapist calls it traumatizing but its kept me alive so.”

“Speaking of keeping you alive, seeing as you had a ‘superman destroyer’ stalking you, I got a safehouse not far from here you can stay—or we can go somewhere else where this shit isn’t happening because fuck me I am not losing you a second time—and we are so having talk about all the shit you keep getting involved in. Seriously—Starro Slayer and memory wipes? Fuck that shit.”

Marinette rolled her eyes at that. “First of all, I don’t call for the invasions, they just happen and apparently I’m the only one that can function in a crisis. Second of all um, no? That’s suspicious as hell and bitch, I live here. If anything, I’m kidnapping you and Gotham will live since drug lords don’t last and I am not losing you again—also how the fuck are you alive?”

“Long ass story short, dip in weird green water that made me lose my shit for a long time. Still does on occasion.”

“Uh huh. I’m keeping you. Shit. How do I smuggle you into my house when my guard will be there by the time we get you near my house, and you’re still in uniform?”

“… we could ask Superman?”

“What does Super Simp have to—l”

“you called?” Super Simp asked.

Marinette regrets many things.

“… am I interrupting?”

“… can you grab him normal person clothes? I’m stealing my family back since he’s been missing almost a decade and Gotham can do with one less crimelord.”

“Its only drugs.”

“I beat up cartels, so shut it.”

“I’m sorry—you do wHAT!”

“You lost judgement rights when you stalked in here like a kidnapper on top of being a druglord vigilante.”

“Marinette, I would appreciate some context, _please,_ ” Super Simp begged.

Marinette considered it. “…they can’t prove shit yet and I’m not handing over proof to the reporter.”

“Pixie.”

“After you look less like you’re going to rob someone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the Todd Siblings can cause everyone else problems.
> 
> bonus: Prequel fic has chapter 1 up now, and is first in this series. multi POV.


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